Sonic Legends 2: Day of the Darkspine
by jweaks2016
Summary: Using DNA coding from the heroes and the lost magic rings, Eggman has created evil Darkspine clones of Sonic and the others. As the counterparts wreck havoc, Sonic and the others are framed for the actions and are hunted by Mobius' military. With their home starting to crumble and Eggman beginning to rise to power, who will survive the day of the Darkspine, and which side will win?
1. Dark Skies

**Surprise everyone! Didn't expect the next story so soon, huh? Well, that's just how I role. *Puts on sunglasses***

**Well, I hope you guys are ready for action, suspense, humor, unexpected kill offs and just a touch of romance to keep things interesting.**

**Enjoy the first chapter of the second story…**

_(The following events occur after Sonic Legends: Fire and Ice)_

*With Sonic and the others, at their headquarters, a month and a half later*

"I'm tellin' ya, strength beats smarts any day!" Knuckles scoffed. "It's a known fact."

"Are you kidding? Tactics and knowledge can outsmart any opponent of strength!" Tails countered. "That has proven true in tests."

"Make them stop," Rouge groaned, massaging her temples. "They've been at for two hours. I'm starting to get a migraine."

"Guys, can't we just agree to disagree?" Amy suggested.

"NO!" The fox and echidna shouted in unison.

"Sonic? Any ideas?" The pink hedgehog asked, turning to the Blue Blur, who was lying on the couch watching a film on the TV.

"Don't care," Sonic sighed. "All I care about is watching this movie, The Fast and the Furry-ous."

A loud knocking on the front door of the headquarters interrupted the group's issue. Tails walked over and opened it to find Big and Cream standing in the doorway.

"Cream!" The fox cheered. "Nice to see you! What're you doing here? Hi, Big."

The cat looked around some bushes, paying no attention to Tails' comment.

"I thought it would be nice to stop over and say hello to you all. I don't really have much else to do, so I figured I would hang out with you guys!" The rabbit cheered. "Big kinda followed me over here. He's looking for his frog again."

"Doesn't he think maybe that the reason his frog keeps running off is because that that frog doesn't wanna be around him anymore?" Tails whispered, and Cream shrugged in reply. "Never mind. That's his deal. Come on in! Maybe you can help us settle a little debate…"

* * *

*The next day, with Eggman, at his headquarters*

"The duplicates have passed the obstacle course with flying colors again, Doctor," A robot reported, rolling up to the mad scientist.

"So I saw. Bring them in. I wish to speak with them," Eggman stated, stroking his mustache thoughtfully. "I feel that their time for action is near."

After a few minutes, the Darkspine clones walked in to the room to meet with their master. All of the Darkspines had two white lines traveling from the back of their head to the top of their faces. They had blank, white, soulless eyes and were purple all over. The rings that made them this form were permanently infused on their left ring fingers. Sonic had gold rings on his ankles and wrists, Tails had one gold ring around his neck along with a technological wrist band on his right arm, and Amy looked the same, except her hammer now had spikes on both ends and when a button on the handle was pushed, a long whip with dark energy flowing through it fell out the bottom of the handle. Shadow also looked the same, except his usual pistol was more advanced now and his shoes were more sleek and aerodynamic. Knuckles' whole gloves were covered in large spikes, and one gold ring wrapped around his left bicep. Rouge's wingspan was twice the size of the normal Rouge's, and instead of the pink hearted chest plate that usually stood out, the pink was black with silver, metallic, vein-like lines snaked all over the heart. Silver, too, looked similar, like Tails, Sonic, and Shadow, but instead of blue telekinetic clasps on his legs and wrists, they were red. Blaze was the one who stood out the most. With twice as many wisps of hair coming out of her hair band and white lines that snaked across her forehead, she looked even more menacing with a dark spot on her forehead instead of the usual red. She was clothed in a black outfit with real flames traveling up it, and her gloves were blackened with fire coming from her palms.

"Ah, there are my golden tickets," Eggman cheered, walking up to his creations. "You've impressed me once again, but now it is time for you to learn your true purpose in this grand scheme."

"What is it, Doctor Eggman?" Sonic asked, stepping forward. "We stand ready to fight."

"Who died and made you leader?" Darkspine Shadow asked, stepping forward as well.

The evil Sonic turned to the team member and pointed to the back of the group. "I'm the one who beat you before, all those years ago. If you want to spare yourself from another such action, I suggest you go back there with the others and shut up."

"I don't take orders from anyone…" Shadow muttered, drawing his pistol.

"Interesting. They seem to have somehow acquired the memories of Sonic and his friends as well, which means they already know where their hideout is," Robotnik muttered to himself. "You two, stand down. You will need your strength for what you will be up against."

Sonic turned to face his master once again, and Shadow reluctantly stepped backwards. "What will we be up against?"

Eggman smiled sinisterly. "Yourselves."

The group took a step back in surprise.

"Ourselves? We have to fight ourselves?" The Darkspine Amy asked. "Well, if that's what we have to do."

"Not only fight yourselves, but make sure they don't get up again," Eggman continued. "Not only do they pose a threat to our final plan and our overall success of conquering Mobius, but they are deadly to your very existence."

"So, it's kill or be killed?" Blaze asked, grinning slightly. "I like the sound of that."

"As do I," Silver added. "I'll enjoy ripping myself apart. Sounds odd when I say it like that, but true nonetheless."

"There can only be one thief in Mobius," Darkspine Rouge stated. "I don't plan on retiring any time soon."

"When do we start?" The evil echidna asked. "I've always been itching for someone who is equal to my fighting skills."

"You will face the heroes tomorrow," The doctor replied. "Rest up, because you all have a very big day coming up. Dismissed!"

* * *

*With Blaze, twenty minutes later, in the woods near the heroes' hideout*

"Tell me, Silver, how did you feel when you first heard Blizzard say that he was went to kill me?" The pyrokinetic asked, walking alongside her friend in the forest.

"That was nearly two months ago, Blaze," Silver countered. "Why do ya wanna know? That's over and done with."

"Just tell me. I'm curious as to your response."

"Alright," Silver replied, giving his cat friend an odd glance. "I felt that he was actually going to kill you, and I'd ha—Sonic, the others and I would have to protect you. Not that you would need protecting, it's just that your amount of fire and his amount of ice would cancel each other, and neither of you would win."

"So…nothing else?" Blaze asked, her voice contained a little disappointment. "No other feelings?"

The telekinetic shook his head.

"Naïve…" Blaze muttered under her breath. "We haven't heard much from Eggman. You think he's up to something?"

"Probably some robot thing that'll take us about an hour to defeat," Silver chuckled. "He builds the stupidest stuff. All robots. Won't he ever realize that those things'll never beat us?"

"Just think of what he could do if he broke away from those creations. Construct something non-metal," Blaze laughed slightly.

"He created Shadow," Silver replied, drawing a surprised look from the cat. "What? You didn't know that? Yeah, Shadow was evil up until Amy turned him. Funny how except for Tails and Amy, all of us that are on Sonic's team now were against him at some point."

* * *

*With Eggman, three hours later, in his base*

The evil doctor strolled into his personal workplace with a confident grin.

"What're you so smug about?" An echidna asked.

"Shut up and keep generating electricity," Eggman snarled.

The echidna was chained in the air by four metal wires, and each one held an arm or leg. He was orange and black with a white scar traveling down his left eye. He had blue and black gloves with bluish black circles all over them. The same design was imprinted on his shoes, as well as the metal leg and arm guards the came up to his elbows and knees. Electricity flowed from the four cords that held him in the air.

"Let me down from here and I'll show you how much electricity I can generate," The echidna shot.

"Until I have the Master Emerald, you're not going anywhere. I found you, and now, as the rule goes, I get to keep you," Robotnik laughed. "What was your name again? I'm never good with names."

"Why would you care?" The prisoner shot.

Eggman pressed a button, and water began to fall on the hostage, making the electricity that coursed through him thrash around violently. The echidna yelled in pain and trembled uncontrollably until the water had stopped.

"I'm gonna electrify your brain, Egghead," The prisoner growled, sucking in air.

The doctor pressed the button again, and this process repeated.

"My cousin…Tikal…will have your head…for this…if I don't GET TO YOU FIRST!" The hostage roared, trying to lunge at the scientist.

Eggman chuckled to himself as he walked away, ignoring the thrashing and insults that echoed behind him.

"Let's give a check up on T-zero-X-one-C and The Plague. I wonder how they are holding up," The doctor said to himself. "After all, THEY are my greatest creations, not those Darkspines."

**There it is everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of the new story!**

**Anyone picking up on little clues that I'm leaving that deal with future events? Also, does anyone know what T-zero-X-one-C makes out to be when the numbers are written out? Those two mentioned at the end of the chapter are *hint* not good guys. Shocker, right?**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	2. No Help

**Hello once again everyone! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

*With Sonic and the others, thirty minutes later, in Mobius*

"Aw, I'm telling ya Knuckles, The Fast and the Furry-ous is one of the best action and speedy movies ever!" Sonic exclaimed as he and his pal walked into the kitchen for a snack. "Vin Weasel is amazing!"

"Whatever. I still say it sucks," The echidna yawned, looking through the refrigerator. "Where's my energy drink?"

Just then, Rouge walked in and tossed an empty energy drink can in the trash and burped. "My, excuse me. That wasn't very lady-like. What's up, blowhards?"

Sonic shook his head and grinned while Knuckles yanked on his hair with frustration.

"I HAD MY NAME ON THAT THING!" The echidna roared. "DID YOU NOT SEE THAT?"

Rouge looked in the trash and put a finger to her mouth sarcastically. "Oops. I guess I made a mistake. Don't worry, Knucky, I'm sure there's plenty more of those."

As the bat walked out of the room, Knuckles growled and punched his fist through a wall. The same wall that led to the bathroom, where Amy was.

"EEK! AH! Knuckles, you…you…AUGH!" She roared. "Ever heard of privacy?"

"Didn't mean to!" The echidna defended, throwing his hands in the air. "Sonic, tell her that wasn't on purpose."

The Fastest Thing Alive was too busy rolling around on the ground and laughing to respond.

"Oh my…Hahahaha…That was too hilarious!" The hedgehog wheezed, gasping for air. "Oh, my stomach! Hahaha!"

"I hate you so much right now," The echidna sighed, shaking his head. "I'll get you back for this. IF ANYONE NEEDS ME, I'LL BE GETTING SOME PLASTER!"

* * *

*With Shadow, nighttime*

The Ultimate Life Form stood on the tallest building in Mobius, looking out over the city which lay below. He liked it up here. The high atmospheric pressure, which caused pain in some, cleared his mind at times. This was like one of those times. He had been fed up with everyday life. No missions. No adventures. Nothing to shoot in the face. The daily routine of riding around on his motorcycle was becoming tedious. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being on his bike, it was just that…he needed something else to do.

"Hm. Another quiet, boring night in this city. Nothing to do but patrol the rooftops for nothing," Shadow sighed, crossing his arms and sitting down. "Even G.U.N. hasn't given me any tasks."

Below him, cars honked at each other and drivers yelled across lanes of traffic. Lights flickered on and off, and the aroma of food wafted into the night air with different fragrances.

"What is wrong with this city? Can't there be someone who wants to do something illegal?" The dark hedgehog asked.

After about ten minutes of watching the people down below, Shadow grew bored and stood up. As he turned to walk off, he noticed a thin throwing knife that was hovering near his neck.

"That's a very nice pistol you have there, hedgehog," A feminine voice said from his right. "It could go for a lot on the market."

The figure was just barely out of Shadow's peripheral vision, so he couldn't make out who it was.

"I wouldn't recommend doing this. My weapon is very deadly when used properly," The Ultimate Life Form replied, lowering his eyebrows.

"Well in that case, I'll just take those golden wrist and leg bands that you have there and be on my way. They look more valuable anyway," The girl countered. "Nice and easy, and I won't have to clean my blades tonight."

"If you insist…" Shadow replied, starting to take off his rings, but quickly smacked the hand that held the blade away from his neck.

The dark hedgehog back flipped and faced his assailant. It was a girl raccoon about his age, but had a black bandana covering her face from the nose down. She wore silver and grey light combat armor with two metal wrist straps that had a narrow hole openings on the bottoms and long, narrow openings on the tops.

"This could've been easy for ya…" The girl muttered. "But I'm afraid that you'll have to comply with force."

"You're obviously not from around here, or else you'd know who I am," Shadow retorted. "Last chance for backing down."

"Chance denied," The assailant hissed, and she lunged at the hedgehog.

As she was in the air, she flicked her wrist upward, and another thin throwing knife slid out from the bottom hole in the other strap. She lightly hit the knife while it was flying out, making it start to spin in the air. The attacker caught the blade by the handle, with the sharp edge facing Shadow, and began to rapidly jab him. The hedgehog dodged the attacks, but received a stab wound to his side, making him grunt in pain.

"Oh, you got a little scratch!" The girl taunted, taking a swipe at Shadow's head.

The Ultimate Life Form grabbed her arm, drew his pistol, and fired a shot into her side. He then tossed her arm to the side and kicked her in the chest, sending her tumbling backwards and clinging on to the ledge of the tall building.

"Do you believe in an eye for an eye?" The dark counterpart asked, standing above the assailant.

"No, but you obviously do," The raccoon sneered, letting go of the ledge and starting to free fall.

The stunned hedgehog widened his eyes and took a step back at this sudden action, but frowned and dove after her as he witnessed her whip out two more knives and plunge them into the windows of the building, slowing her down. Shadow ran down the side of the building at top speed, but just as he was about to grab the girl, she pulled her blades out, pushed off the window with her right foot, sheathed the knives, and landed on a nearby rooftop.

"Hmph. Show off…" Shadow muttered, following her.

The hedgehog landed on the same rooftop and charged the girl again, but instead of knives this time, three razor sharp buzz-saw blades rose out of the top of the wrist straps.

"You mustn't know who I am either, hedgehog, because you'd know not to cross me," The girl hissed.

"Bandit!" Another voice called out, and a male wolf, also around Shadow's age came hovering down from above.

The wolf also had two metal bands around his wrists, but these had a propeller protruding from each one, allowing the wolf to fly through the skies. The newcomer had black, orange, and green combat boots along with open fingered gloves and an orange and black jacket. The wolf was mainly dark brown with long hair, but the tip of his tail was a tan color. He wore orange tinted glasses that had tape around the middle, and a small green ring was in his right eyebrow as well as his right ear.

"Will you ever stop robbing people?" The wolf asked, landing on the rooftop.

"I can handle this on my own. Who are you?" Shadow asked, pointing his gun at the boy now.

The wolf's propellers collapsed and withdrew into his wristbands as he pulled out his own pistol.

"Depends. I can be a friend, or an enemy," The wolf replied. "What about you, dude? You seem to have…anger issues. Enemy?"

"I'm not an enemy, and I DON'T have ANY issues," The Ultimate Life Form seethed.

"Suuuure ya don't. Listen. I've been trying to get Bandit here to stop her criminal ways for a while and become a good guy. I'm someone who wants to help you out," The boy explained, lowering his gun and extending his free hand. "I see she's upset another dude, of whom she's underestimated. Gizmo the Wolf."

"You're thief's gone," Was all Shadow said, making Gizmo turn to find that Bandit had vanished.

"Dang! That always happens!" The wolf complained, pulling out a metal box and tossing it into the air. "Get sidetracked, and then they disappear. Bro, this gets old after a while."

The cube began to unravel into a tiny drone that hovered in the sky. Gizmo pressed on a plastic screen on his wristband a few times, and the droid hovered off into the night.

"Dash is gonna kill me…" The boy sighed. "Hey, I've gotta run, but if you need anything, just give me a shout, dude."

The wolf handed Shadow a slip of paper with a number on it before extending the propellers on his bands and hovering off into the night.

Shadow looked at the number and then ripped it apart, tossing it into the night sky.

"Dude, huh? What a loud of…" The Ultimate Life Form muttered, walking across the rooftop. "I have to go bandage myself up."

* * *

*With Eggman, the next day, early morning, in the hanger bay area*

"Alright, Darkspines! Time to make Papa proud!" The doctor cheered, walking into the room of clones. "I assume you already know the location of Sonic and his colleagues, yes?"

"Yes, master," All of the duplicates replied in unison, bowing their heads. "We will not fail you."

" Excellent! Go, my Darkspine creations! Wreak havoc upon Mobius! Burn everything in sight! Kill Sonic and his friends!" Eggman cheered, rubbing his hands together evilly.

Darkspine Sonic grabbed the Tails and Knuckles counterparts and sped out of the base and towards the city. Darkspine Shadow rode off on his motorcycle with the evil Amy behind him while Darkspine Silver and Blaze soared through the air with the evil Rouge.

"I CANNOT lose this time," The doctor said, laughing slightly.

**There it is! Just letting you all know that even though there are some outer characters here and there in one or two chapters, this does not mean that the whole story will have an outer character in it the whole way like last time. These next two stories will have mainly Sonic and his friends.**

**Anyone picking up on some similarities with Sonic and his friends and the few newcomers? Gizmo the Wolf, Bandit the Raccoon, Blizzard the Cat… Anyone seeing a pattern with them? If so, then let me know in the reviews section, and I will be very impressed if someone gets it right, even though I haven't put them all in yet. These guys'll play a big role in the final outcome for one outer character of whom most of you love. I'll let you guess who that is.**

**More to come…**


	3. Broken Heroes

**Hey all! Sorry I hadn't posted in a few days, but I've gotta do my summer reading for school at some point.**

**Here's the new chapter…**

*With Sonic and the others, twenty-two minutes later, at the headquarters*

"Brains!" Tails seethed, getting in the echidna's face.

"Strength!" Knuckles countered.

"Brains!"

"Strength!"

"BRAINS!"

"STRENGTH!"

"Will you two just SHUT UP?" Rouge yelled from her room. "I'm trying to put on my makeup!"

"I concur with Rouge," Blaze added, walking out to the living room where the others hung out. "This argument has gone on for days. Can't we say that they're both equal?"

"NO!" The fox and echidna shouted, turning to the cat.

"Did you honestly think that would work?" Sonic asked, putting The Fast and the Furry-ous 3 into the DVD player.

"No, but it was worth a shot," Blaze sighed, and then noticed Shadow's bandages on his side. "What happened to you Shadow?"

"Nothing…" The Ultimate Life Form grumbled. "Don't concern yourself with my wellbeing. I'm fine."

"Sonic? Can I watch that movie you're putting in with you?" Amy asked, walking over to the blue hedgehog and putting her chin on his shoulder.

Sonic shrugged her off and sighed. "I guess. Silver? Would you make the popcorn, or do you not want to watch this?"

"I don—"

Silver was suddenly cut off by Blaze. "I think it would be a nice idea. We could spend some time viewing it, couldn't we Silver?"

"I guess…" The telekinetic replied, giving his friend an odd look.

"I'm gonna blow off some steam outside, away from HIM," Knuckles spat, looking distastefully at Tails and walking outside.

* * *

*With Knuckles*

_Unbelievable. He thinks that smarts can beat out strength. Ha! What a joke._

The echidna began to punch the air in boredom, breathing in and out slowly to calm himself down. It wasn't until he heard the roar of an engine coming towards him that he stopped and looked in the direction of the origin of the sound.

_What?_

He gawked as he witnessed Darkspine counterparts of himself and his friends shoot through the yard and crash into the headquarters base, where shouts and screams of surprise echoed throughout the wreckage.

_Looks like I can blow off steam another way…_

The echidna cracked his knuckles and rushed into the rubble of the main lobby of the headquarters.

* * *

*With Jessica, two hours later, by Tikal's clan mainstay*

"Jess, you have to be careful there. Something's not right," Mute crackled through the intercom. "I've tapped into the media feeds in Mobius, and it looks like Sonic and the others are destroying the main city in all of Mobius."

"That doesn't sound right. Maybe I should check it out…" The grey hedgehog replied, looking off in the distance.

A few months ago, Sonic and the others had traveled to the Frostbite Dimension to help a new friend they made, Blizzard the Cat, with a situation he had. If he didn't kill Blaze the Cat, he would die at the hands of the council members, his bosses. However, Blizzard didn't want to kill her. The heroes had teamed up with Mute and Jessica, two ex-soldiers who were betrayed by the leaders of the dimension/ the people who ordered Blaze's demise, and were able to disband the army as well as beat the members in another dimension. Now, with the army gone as well as the leaders, Mute, Jess, and Blizzard were working furiously to keep their dimension from falling into anarchy.

"No. I only warned you so you could watch your back. Until we regain control over the Frostbite Dimension, we absolutely cannot interfere with any other dimension, even if it is Sonic's home," Her partner cut in. "Stick to the plan. We need to find Shock Charge. With his abilities, our dimension should have enough power for a period of time until we can find a more reliable power source. Go ahead and talk to this Tikal girl and see if we can find any information on his location."

"Copy," Jess sighed, signing off and drawing her pistol.

* * *

*With Sonic, two hours earlier, back at the headquarters*

The Darkspine creations crashed through the ceiling of the heroes' base and stood before Sonic and the gang. Knuckles came running through the entrance and took his place behind Sonic, in his fighting stance.

"Are those…us?" Tails asked, taking a step back in shock. "How…?"

"Doctor Eggman requests your heads," The Darkspine Sonic stated in a voice that sounded just like Sonic's, pointing at the heroes. "After we rip you all limb from limb, all of Mobius will burn."

"Wow. Straight to the point, huh? Nothing like how you guys were created, or why you're doing this, or even what you plan on doing after you destroy Mobius? Nothing like that?" Sonic asked. "I mean really? You all couldn't have waited until I was at least halfway through my movie? That's just rude."

Both Shadows pulled out their pistols and loaded them, ready for a fight. Sonic got ready to rush his counterpart, but the evil Sonic got ready to do the same. Every move that the heroes made, the Darkspine villains seemed to do the same move.

"I don't know how you all came to be, but your abilities are nothing compared to ours," Silver stated, gritting his teeth.

"We know all of your moves, all of your weaknesses, and all of your tactics. We are you," Darkspine Silver growled, his hands glowing red instead of Silver's usual blue.

"Let's crush these freaks!" Knuckles roared, charging towards the villains with the others behind him.

Sonic was running towards his evil counterpart at top speed, but before he could get a hit off, Darkspine Sonic lunged to the left, grabbed the Blue Blur's arm, and flung him through a wall at the far end of the room. Sonic crashed through two more walls before rolling to a stop outside. Evil Sonic zipped up to the blue hedgehog and began to rapidly stomp on Sonic's face, distorting it slightly with every blow. Suddenly, Sonic grabbed his evil clone's leg and flung him into the ground, making his foe grunt in pain. Sonic rolled over on top of his assailant and began to slam his fists into Darkspine Sonic with full force until his counterpart grabbed his hands and head-butted him. The Fastest Thing Alive fell backwards, clutching his skull. His attacker picked him up by the throat and ran up the side of the tall headquarters, leaping off the top of the building when he neared it and hurtled Sonic into the ground.

"AUGH! RRG! UH!" Sonic shouted in agony, slowly picking himself up. "AAAH!"

"I'm stronger," Darkspine Sonic snarled, landing in front of the hero and slamming his fist into the blue hedgehog's jaw.

"I'm faster."

Another punch.

"Newer."

The evil Sonic slammed his knee into the hero's head, making the blue hedgehog stumble backwards.

"Better."

As the counterpart threw the last punch, Sonic grabbed his foe's arm and punched the clone's elbow with full force, creating a sickening cracking sound that rang in both of their ears. The Fastest Thing Alive kicked Darkspine Sonic into the air, grabbed his leg, and swung him into the ground.

"Uh…" The evil Sonic grunted, standing up. "Cheap shot."

The clone, to Sonic's surprise, rushed towards him and picked him up in the air, bringing the Blue Blur's back down on the attacker's knee. Darkspine Sonic then flipped the hedgehog over and proceeded to make the same move on the hero's stomach, flushing all the air out of him and making Sonic pass out.

"You're battered. Beaten. Broken…" The evil Sonic snarled. "Outdated."

With that, the counterpart turned away from the fallen hero and walked back inside to witness the ongoing fight amongst the others.

* * *

*With Silver, fifteen minutes earlier*

The two telekinetics collided head-on, knocking both of them back upon impact.

"Ow…" Silver muttered, rubbing his head, but looked up when he heard a crumbling noise.

A red aura surrounded broken slabs of concrete that hung above him, and they began to topple down one by one. Silver shot out from underneath the falling rubble, but was immediately hit with a blast of telekinetic energy and flung into a wall.

"Ah…Ngh…" Silver sputtered, looking around.

He saw Amy get her hammer ripped away from her by her clone's metal whip. She was then brought down on her knees in defeat as Darkspine Amy slammed the weapon down on the pink hedgehog's head three times. Tails was busy taking on his counterpart, dodging cannon blasts that came from a gun that wrapped around his clone's arm. Darkspine Tails quickly aimed for the ceiling, and fired multiple shots into the concrete above. The ceiling then gave way, falling down on the hero. The fox didn't resurface.

"No…Guys…" The grey hedgehog gasped, shakily standing up.

Rouge was slumped in a corner at the far end of the room, unconscious, and Knuckles' head and arms peaked out from a hole in the ceiling that lead to the second floor. Oddly, he didn't see Shadow anywhere. Silver then looked over and saw Blaze, crawling across the floor in pain. Her evil counterpart was slowly walking behind her with her fists in flames.

"Blaze…" Silver whispered, limping over to his comrade.

He then witnessed Darkspine Blaze get on top of the cat and slam her head into the floor multiple times. The hero didn't move after that.

"NO! BLAZE!" Silver yelled, moving towards her at a quicker pace than before, but was held back by someone.

The hedgehog turned to see his evil clone, smiling devilishly.

"Your feelings for her make you weak," The counterpart spat, lifting Silver up in the air by his fur. "I feel nothing. WE feel nothing."

The two began to climb higher and higher into the sky. The pressure in the atmosphere was taking a toll on the hero, making his head start to hurt.

"That means you have no soul…" Silver gasped.

"Which means I feel no fear…" Darkspine Silver countered, continuing to go higher into the sky until Silver passed out. "…or remorse."

The clone then let go of the telekinetic, sending the unconscious hero free falling back towards the headquarters.

* * *

*With Shadow, ten minutes earlier*

The Ultimate Life Form ducked behind his cover once more as his clone fired more rounds at him as he walked towards the hero's spot.

"NO! BLAZE!" Shadow heard Silver yell from downstairs, and the dark hedgehog snarled a little.

Once the counterpart was close enough, Shadow jumped over the slab of rock he was hiding behind and batted the clone's hand that held the gun away. The two began to punch and kick each other, but they both were blocking each other's attacks. Suddenly, Darkspine Shadow faked like he was going to punch again, but instead grabbed Shadow's gun and launched it out a shattered window. The hero grunted and began to wrestle for his foe's pistol, but Darkspine Shadow began to move it in the dark hedgehog's direction. The Ultimate Life Form gritted his teeth as he sharply moved the gun away from him, making his attacker fire three shots into the floor.

"You can't beat me," The villain chuckled, then kneed Shadow in the stomach and pressed the gun right in the middle of the hero's torso, firing four times.

The dark hedgehog gasped slightly, and fell to his knees. The counterpart put his foot on Shadow's chest and pushed him back slightly, making the last remaining hero fall to the floor. After a few minutes, a loud crash echoed throughout the headquarters, and the hero heard the Darkspine Sonic order the others to leave.

"Ngh…" The hedgehog grunted, slowly crawling towards the hole in the floor of the second floor where Knuckles lay. "Move…"

Shadow pushed the echidna out of the way and looked down below where all of his allies lay.

"Da—AAAHH!"

The ground beneath the dark hedgehog gave way and Shadow crashed to the first floor. The wound in his torso and the wound in his side from yesterday were both giving his agonizing pain. The last thing he saw before slipping into unconsciousness was a very stunned and scared Cream, whimpering and walking into the destroyed headquarters.

**Sorry I haven't posted in a little bit, but I hope this chapter made up for it!**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	4. Hunted Comrades

**Hey everyone! Hope you guys are ready for a heart-ripping chapter. Heh heh heh.**

**WARNING: Chapter contains two deaths. One slightly gruesome.**

**Enjoy…**

*With Amy, four hours later, in an unknown location*

"Mmm…" The pink hedgehog mumbled, coming around. "Wha…?"

Amy opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She definitely wasn't at the headquarters. The hero shot up out of a bed that she was in, but immediately collapsed back into the pillows, holding her head.

"Huh…?"

The top of her head was bandaged, and all of her wounds were wrapped and cleaned. She noticed she was in a medical room of some sort, but she didn't know why or how she got there. A window was in the room with a table to the left of an unconscious Tails. The next thing that dawned on her was that Sonic was also in the room, under the covers and breathing haphazardly.

"Soni…"

Amy slowly got out of the bed and steadied herself. She took a few steps, but lurched to the left and grabbed a nearby table. Making her way towards her love, she inched along so as not to aggravate her head injury. Finally, she reached Sonic and collapsed at the foot of his bed, holding his hand.

"Sonic…"

"You should really be in your bed," A voice said from her left, and Amy looked over to see Espio standing in the doorway. "Welcome to our base."

"Espio? How?" Amy questioned. "I mean…"

"Cream found you all. She alerted us that you'd been injured, so we brought all of you here. Bandaged you up and gave you rooms to rest in," The ninja explained, twirling a throwing star in his hand.

"How are the…others?" The hero asked, rubbing Sonic's hand slightly.

"Silver is hurt badly, but surprisingly, he'll be able to recover fully. Tails is beaten pretty severly, however. Part of the ceiling collapsed on his head. He'll make it, but I'm not sure he'll be the…same, as he originally was."

"What does that mean?"

Espio sighed and rubbed his temple. "He could have permanent brain damage."

As the information started to sink in, the pink hedgehog began to sob uncontrollably and held her head in her hands.

"I'll give you a minute. Vector and Charmy are checking up on the others. Cream is with Blaze and Silver." The ninja sighed, walking out of the room and shutting the door.

* * *

*With Cream, ten minutes earlier*

The small rabbit sat in a chair next to her best friend, looking at the cat with a worried look. Blaze had a large lump on her forehead and burns all over her body. Her clothes were charred and she was breathing steadily.

"Come on, Blaze. You hafta make it," Cream whispered. "Don't leave me like this. Open your eyes. Please."

"Cream…?" Silver moaned, rolling over and looking at the rabbit. "What're you doing here? Where are we? Ooooh, my ribs."

Silver was covered in bruises and cuts, including a long scar that ran from his right eye down to the bottom of the right side of his lip. Patches of his fur were missing, and one of his ankle cuffs was smashed.

"You're alive!" Cream exclaimed, running over and hugging the hedgehog, but let go when Silver yelped in pain. "I was worried neither of you would wake up!"

"Wake up? Neither…?" The telekinetic asked, but then it dawned on him. "Blaze."

The hero started to get up, but the rabbit tried to keep him down. "No! You need to rest! Please!"

The telekinetic used his mind to move Cream out of the way, and he floated over to the pyrokinetic's side, sitting in the chair his young friend was once sitting in. He felt the lump on her head and sighed.

"Oh no. Blaze. This is my fault. I couldn't protect you," Silver whispered, sucking in a sharp breath when he felt a burning sensation in his stomach. "Come on. You gotta make it. We're partners. Friends. We stick by each other. Look out for each other."

Blaze continued to breathe slowly and lay in the same spot.

"You think I don't hear you when you call me naïve, but I do. I'm not naïve, just…nervous. I've never had a real family or many friends, much less someone who…likes me. I'm just not accustomed to it," The hedgehog continued, and the rabbit started to walk towards him silently. "I just…I don't know how to respond to these things."

"Silver…" Cream whispered, but the telekinetic didn't hear her.

"We've been through so much. We've done a ton. We beat lots of bad guys—you and me, side by side. We made a great team. MAKE a great team," Silver finished. "Just wake up. We can continue this great thing we have going. I'll…try…to respond to your…emotions."

After a minute of silence, Vector opened the door to the room. "Oh. Hi! Welcome to our base. Whenever you're ready, we need everyone who's awake out here."

* * *

With the remaining heroes, twenty minutes later, in the main lobby of the base*

Rouge, Shadow, Knuckles, Silver and Amy all gathered around the living room while Charmy, Vector, and Espio stood before them. Shadow had bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, Knuckles had bruises and lumps all over his body with a large gash across his lower lip and Rouge's clothes were dusted and ripped in the leg and back region, but other than that she was fine.

"We know you all are innocent," Espio began. "Attacks have been reported throughout all of Mobius. I don't think you all will like these events. We've recorded this bit of the news."

"Prepare yourselves," Vector warned, then pressed a button on the TV.

Images of a wrecked Mobius flashed by on the news channel, and a ticker ran at the bottom. The words on the screen bore into the heroes' minds. The sentences that flashed by were:

Attempted assassination of Queen Sally by Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails

Mighty the Armadillo not so Mighty. Hero dead.

…The bigger they fall. Big the Cat's body found

No encore for the Songoose. Singer dropped off of Mobius building

Storm the Albatross and Wave the Swallow no longer ride. Boarders brought down

"Oh my…" Amy choked, beginning to cry again. "How could this happen? How?"

Shadow stood up and rapidly paced back and forth; his fury boiling up inside of him with every second. He wouldn't lose control, though. He'd save that for the clones. Knuckles ripped a pillow next to him apart and roared in fury. He then stormed off, shouting unpleasant words about the Darkspines at the top of his lungs. Rouge sunk her head down and breathed in and out deeply while Silver just stared blankly at the TV screen.

"I'm sorry, but we thought you should see that. They need you out there again," Espio stated, turning off the TV. "Even in the condition you're in."

"You guys gonna be alright?" Charmy asked, nervously drumming his fingers together.

"NO! OUR FRIENDS ARE GETTING MURERED OUT THERE AND WE CAN'T STOP IT!" Knuckles shouted from around the corner of a hall. "RRRRRRRGH! GAH!"

* * *

*With Darkspine Shadow, three hours earlier, in an old warehouse*

After the evil clones had split up to wreak havoc, the villainous Ultimate Life Form had spotted Big not long after that, and decided to tail him. The hedgehog had followed the cat into a warehouse and took position in the shadows of the structure.

* * *

*With Big*

Big lumbered into an old warehouse in the city, looking for his usual companion.

"Froggy?" The cat called, his voice echoing throughout the building. "Where are you? Froggy?"

He spotted something a little ways away and jogged up to it, making the ground shake a little.

"Froggy? Is that you?" Big asked, his voice full of hope, but was disappointed when the Darkspine Shadow emerged. "No. No Froggy. Dark hedgehog, you look different. Have you seen Froggy?"

Evil Shadow withdrew his pistol and loaded a bullet into the chamber, but hesitated. He then clicked his pistol back into the holster. He wasn't sure if he should kill Big or not. He's no threat, just annoying.

"Can't say I have," The villain replied darkly, his white eyes looking at the cat.

"Alright. I'll look somewhere else," Big replied, lumbering towards the exit.

Before the large cat could reach the door though, Shadow called out again. The villain had changed his mind about sparing the cat's life. His thirst for mayhem was just too strong.

"Cat!" Darkspine Shadow called, making Big turn around to face him. "I have seen your pet."

"Really?" The cat asked, running up to the hedgehog. "Where? Where's Froggy?"

Shadow chuckled softly. "He's over behind those crates."

The large cat lumbered over to the boxes and began to rummage through them, searching for his amphibian friend. The villain behind him raised the gun to the back of Big's head and grinned manically.

"Bye, cat. Never liked you anyway. No one did," Shadow chuckled before pulling the trigger.

Bang.

Big had moved before the hedgehog pulled the trigger, so instead of a bullet to the head, the cat took a bullet to the chest. As Darkspine Shadow walked off, Big collapsed to the ground and started to breathe deeply. Out of the corner of his eye, an amphibian hopped across the floor, and the cat recognized it.

"Fr…Froggy!" Big gasped, smiling painfully. "Found…you…again… My...Froggy..."

Those were the last words Big said before slipping away. The large cat's frog hopped over to Big and got on top of Big's large belly. The amphibian turned and looked at the dead cat, then hunched down on Big's stomach and closed its eyes.

Almost like it knew that its best friend was now gone.

* * *

*With Darkspine Sonic and Mina Mongoose, on the roof of the Mobius Theatrical Performances building, fifteen minutes earlier*

"So, Sonic, you said you wanted to talk to me about something. By the way, I'm loving the new look. Just letting you know that I'm off the table for the time being. I have a boyfriend," Mina stated, leaning against the roof edge. "But if you want to date, then the answer is always yes!"

"You do have a date alright," The evil clone muttered, lowering his head.

"Oh? With who?" The singer asked, becoming curious.

"Oh...ya know...death," Sonic replied, grinning, then rushed over and held Mina over the edge of the roof by the neck.

"Wha…? Ha ha…Very funny, Sonic… Put me down, though." Mina laughed nervously. "Seriously though. Put me down. I got to change clothes for an interview in a half hour."

The Darkspine clone smiled and shook his head. "I always found you tedious to be around Mina. The others and I are gonna tear down Mobius, brick by brick, for Doctor Eggman. He's the future. But before I do that, however, I'm gonna kill anyone who I hated or had a beef with."

"Sonic? Seriously! This isn't funny! You're scaring me!" Mina whined, beginning to struggle. "This isn't like you! We're friends! Put me down! Let me go!"

The villain brought the mongoose close to his face and smiled. "Very poor choice of words, Mina."

With that, Darkspine Sonic hurtled Mina over the edge, and heard the singer scream all the way to the bottom. When she hit, Sonic heard a thud and lots of people screaming from below.

"Music to my ears," The evil clone sighed, breathing in the air, then tapped his earpiece. "Knuckles, Tails, meet me over at Sally's palace. We're taking her out too."

"Got that," Knuckles replied. "Just took down Mighty. He won't be getting up again. One rockslide and he was done."

"Cleverly placed traps and two out of three of Jet's gang were taken out," Tails crackled. "Jet got away, but I don't think he'll be a problem. Heading there now."

* * *

*With Sally, an hour later, at her palace*

"Queen Sally, Sonic is here to see you," A servant stated.

After many years of denying offer after offer of marriage requests, mainly because Sally wasn't in to them, the people grew weary and used a backdoor method of election, crowing her queen. She now ruled over a nice portion of Mobius, serving the people to the best of her ability and bringing prosperity to the land.

"Bring him in! Let's see what he wants," Sally replied, biting her lip a little. "I haven't seen him since we split."

She still had feelings for him, however. She would for a long time. Something about being around him was...exciting. The doors opened and the Darkspine Sonic walked in along with the evil Tails and Knuckles behind him.

"So, my favorite blue hedgehog, what did you want to see me about?" Sally asked. "Nice look, by the way."

"Thanks, but I wanted to deliver a very important message," The villainous hedgehog began, snapping his fingers.

Immediately, Tails started to blast the guards in the room with a miniature plasma cannon, and Knuckles started to wail on any royal soldier in sight. After about thirty seconds, all the guards in the room were defeated, and the other two Darkspines had barricaded the doors so no other guards could enter.

Sally yelped and started to run away, but the Darkspine Sonic rushed over and pinned her to the wall, slowly beginning to choke her.

"Eggman has a message to deliver, that is, not me," The hedgehog corrected. "This action is the message. God save the queen. Goodbye, Sally."

"Son…ic…" The chipmunk gagged, struggling for air. "Why…?"

**Heart wrenching enough for you all? Like I said, I'm fine with killing off secondary characters unexpectedly. Sorry for the gruesome bit with Mina, by the way.**

**Leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	5. Whiplash

**Hello all! Welcome to another chapter! Don't really know what else to put in this author's message, so I'll just get on with the story!**

**Enjoy…**

"Time to die, Sally," Darkspine Sonic growled.

Just then, the glass ceiling above shattered to pieces, and a hawk on a hover board soared into the throne room. The bird was green with racing goggles on, and was carrying a thin green blade in his left hand.

"Jet…?" The queen croaked, her vision blurring.

The racer soared in and hit Sonic with his board, knocking the evil clone back. Darkspine Sonic glared at his opponent with a look of murder, but Jet just glared straight back. Fear was not coursing through this bird's blood. Anger was. Hate.

"You killed Wave and murdered my best friend, Storm. You will not take another life, Sonic. Whatever has become of you; whatever darkness has consumed your soul, I will end it, along with you," Jet stated, hovering in front of Sally. "I've followed you three here to finish this. I'll avenge my friends."

"In case you haven't noticed, Jet, you're outnumbered. Three to one aren't very good odds, especially when each of the three is more powerful than the one," Sonic growled, with Knuckles and Tails walking to his side.

"Jet, as queen of this kingdom, I order you to escort me out of here now!" Sally commanded, standing up after catching her breath.

"In case you didn't know, Your Highness," The bird replied sarcastically, still looking at his foes. "I'm not a member of your kingdom, so your rules don't apply to myself."

"What kind of logic is that?" The queen asked.

"My own," Came the reply.

The three clones charged at Jet with full force, but the skidded to a halt when a loud, familiar voice ordered them to stop.

"So, you fight my creations?" Eggman asked, stroking his mustache as he hovered through the ceiling in a hovercraft. "You will protect the queen? You will put your life on the line for the good of others?"

"I may have made mistakes in the past, but I would never kill someone who didn't deserve to die. My friends were that way. Lots of others were that way. Innocents have died today for no good reason. Get your pawns in check, Eggman. They're running rampant," Jet shot. "Climb on, Sally."

"My creations are doing what I ordered them to do. Wreak havoc upon this wretched dimension, and kill Sonic and the others so that I may rise to power!" The doctor cackled. "In order for me to succeed, all those in authority must be vanquished."

"Those aren't Sonic and the others, but creations that look like them," Sally murmured.

"Yeah. Thanks. Couldn't figure that out on my own," The hawk grumbled, then widened his eyes when he took a good look at Sally. "Where're your clothes?"

"I'm fully dressed, Feather Head. Get me out of here before I push you off this thing and escape myself!" The queen shot, and Jet complied.

The two shot through the shattered ceiling and began to soar towards the mountains where it would be safer. However, Eggman's drones were waiting for them in the skies. As Jet dodged and slashed through each robot, he continued to head for their destination.

"Where did you get that sword?" Sally asked, clinging on to the board.

"My father gave it to me when I was young. Never thought I'd use it. Had to dust off this thing," Jet replied, cutting a droid's left arm and head off.

Eventually, the two made it through the swarm of robots and landed in a cavern in the mountains until Eggman's forces had passed over. They would wait there for a day or so.

* * *

*With Blaze, in her subconscious, real time*

The pyrokinetic sat in Eggman's hovercraft along with Amy, Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, and Tails outside a giant metallic spire.

"W…Where am I? What's going on?" Blaze asked, looking around, but no one paid her any heed.

"Where're Sonic, Silver, and Blizzard? They should be out by now! That thing is falling apart!" Knuckles complained, standing up.

"Silver is in there?" Blaze gasped, turning to the echidna, but he didn't reply. "ANSWER ME, KNUCKLES!"

"Maybe they got lost. I'll circle around to the other side and see if they're there," Amy exclaimed, maneuvering the hovercraft all the way to the other side of the spire, but seeing nothing. "They're not there! Oh, Sonic, come on! Make it out! Please!"

After circling back to the other side of the spire, the heroes could see Blizzard carrying an almost dead Silver down a long, crumbling hall.

"COME ON! RUN!" Tails shouted, but just then the walls and ceiling caved in on them, and no one could see a thing.

"What happened? Are they alright?" Rouge asked.

"It…caved in on them. Let's hope they survived that. The chances of that are slim to none, though," Shadow sighed.

"SILVER!" The pyrokinetic called out, and then everything went black.

* * *

*In the real world*

The cat shot out of her bed in a cold sweat. Other than the fact that Knuckles was shouting in anger outside her door, everything was quiet. Her whole body ached, and her clothes were completely burned and charred.

"Blaze! You're okay!" Cream exclaimed, hugging her friend.

"Silver…" Blaze muttered. "Where's Silver?"

"Outside. He's with the others," The rabbit whimpered. "You took a hard hit to the head. Are you okay?"

"Fine. Fine…" The cat sighed, touching the lump on her forehead. "Just had a bad dream is all. How are the others?"

"Tails might have...brain damage and Sonic is still knocked out. Well, since the last time I checked anyways," Cream reported. "I hope Tails is alright. I…I wouldn't know…wha…what…t…mmm…WAAAHH HEEHHHH!"

The rabbit began to cry at the thought of losing the fox, and Blaze had to spend of few moments consoling her friend.

"Listen, I thought I'd never see Silver again after I sealed Iblis inside me," The pyrokinetic stated. "However, everything was resolved in the end, and I was finally able to see him once more. I'm sure the same thing will happen with Tails."

Cream sniffed. "You really think so?"

Blaze nodded and smiled. "I do."

Cream wiped her eyes and looked up at her friend. "He likes you, ya know. Silver. He was talking to you while you were knocked out. You shoulda heard him."

The pyrokinetic grinned and shook her head. "I heard him, alright. Even when I was knocked out, his words echoed through my mind. Now let's go join the others."

* * *

*With Mute, in the Frostbite Dimension, an hour earlier*

"Any luck with information on Shock Charge?" The sniper asked through the intercom, standing next to an icy cat.

"I've talked to Tikal and we've narrowed down his approximate location to within fifty miles from where we are," Jess reported. "We're getting closer. I can feel it."

"Yeah, well let's just hope he'll agree to help us when we save him," Mute sighed, then disconnected.

"I've never really noticed how weird hedgehogs' eyes are," Blizzard stated looking closely at his friend. "I mean, it's like one big eyeball with two pupils. That freaks me out badly."

"We need to focus," The sniper said firmly, looking out at a small army coming towards the military base.

The three had reconstructed the old, wrecked base into a fortress of power. Anyone who controlled the fort had governmental power over the dimension from there. However, a struggle for control was occurring, and the three had to defend the base once every week from some kind of attack.

"Also, your guys' eyelids and eyebrows are like, the same! That's too weird!" The icy hero continued. "When you lower your eyebrows, your eyelids go down too. It's a two for one deal!"

Mute grabbed Blizzard's right shoulder with one hand and smacked him a few times with his other hand. "Back to reality?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure…" The cat replied, rubbing his cheeks. "So, us two have to defend this place from that mini militia down there?"

"That's right."

"Well, there's only one thing to do then."

"What's that?"

Blizzard grinned and pointed off into the distance. "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!"

After a minute of silence, the confused sniper spoke. "Uh, release the what?"

"Release the Kraken," The icy hero repeated, turning to his friend. "Get it?"

"Nooo. We don't have a Kraken, er, whatever that thing is," Mute replied.

Blizzard began to huff and scoff. "Wh…wha…what'd y…what'd you mean we don't have a Kraken? How are we going to be intimidating leaders if we don't have a Kraken?"

"Sorry. Maybe the Hydro Dimension has one," Mute suggested.

The two looked as the small army of soldiers came closer to the base.

"So it's us against all of them?" Blizzard asked. "We're outnumbered?"

"Yep."

The cat grinned and lowered his eyebrows. "Those poor, poor bastards."

**There it is! I wasn't planning on Blizzard being in this story at all, but I thought it'd be nice if he threw in an appearance for a few laughs. I also had him point out some stuff that I noticed about SEGA's hedgehog designs, if you couldn't tell.**

**Blizzard:** **Wait, so I'm not gonna be in the story that often?**

**Nope. Sorry Blizzard.**

**Blizzard:**** Dag nab it.**

**You can do the outro if you want. Here's the outro script.**

**Blizzard:**** Alright! "Remember to leave a review everyone! I'll be on vacation for about a week, so I won't be able to post much." Oh, you're going on vacation? Where?**

**Focus…**

**Mute:****That's what I said.**

**Blizzard:**** Alright! Sheesh! "Don't fret though! This chapter should tide you all over until I come back. It's only a week, after all. More to come…"**

**Perfect. Nice job.**


	6. Mind Games

*With Gizmo, at Sally's palace, thirty minutes earlier*

"Bandit! Get back here!" Gizmo called as he chased after the thief. "Why're you so fast?"

The raccoon continued to run off into the distance, leaving a breathless wolf behind. Slowing down to catch his breath, Gizmo looked around and spotted a large palace a little ways away and made his way over to the entrance.

_Maybe they can get a warrant out for Bandit's arrest. Have to ask._

The genius walked over to the castle and was about to knock, but realized that the door was already open, and he stepped into the main hall. There, he found battered and bruised guards strung about the place with no sign of the attackers. Gizmo pressed a few buttons on his wrist pad, and a metal cannon formed around his arm.

"I'm such a genius," The wolf chuckled, making his way to the room on his right. "Scan for any threats."

His orange sunglasses, which were also a tracking, scanning and magnifying system, reviewed the whole area around him, but came up with no hidden enemies in the room where he resided. He peered through the crack in the door to his right to find seven robots, each one pointing a gun at a big control panel. On the far side of them room, a lynx stood, petrified for some reason.

_Alright, so I gotta fix my scanning systems, but hey, maybe she's the queen or ruler here. If I save her, maybe she'll put out a warrant for Bandit._

"Grant us access to the systems here, or we will obliterate your interface," A robot stated.

"I will not disobey Queen Sally's orders," The girl replied. "I was instructed to defend the database at all costs. Destroy that panel, and I'll be gone, but the information you seek will come with me."

_Okay. So she's not the queen. Maybe an advisor? I don't know. Who cares?_

Gizmo kicked open the door and blasted five of the robots to pieces before the remaining two started shooting at him. The wolf dove behind a stone pillar and tossed a shock grenade around the corner. When it went off, the two robots shook as their systems were fried, then fell to the ground.

"That was fun. I need some of those," Gizmo muttered, looking around. "Hey, dudette. Sorry for the mess. I was wondering if you could help me out."

"Accessing bio-tech weapons systems and armor. Destabilizing drones. Shutting down weaponry. All mainframe systems down," The lynx said, walking towards the wolf. "You're systems are much easier to hack into than Dr. Robotnik's. Who are you?"

Gizmo tried his weaponry and other inventions, but they had all been shut down or messed up.

"How'd you do that? What the heck, bro? It took me, like, two days to make all this work!" The hero complained, banging on his wrist pad. "I'm Gizmo the Wolf. Super-genius and all around cool dude, who at the moment is freaking out. Who're you?"

"NICOLE the Holo-Lynx. I'm the technological advisor and assistant for Queen Sally. What is your business here?"

"I was just wondering if maybe the queen could put out an arrest warrant for a criminal I'm tracking," The inventor sighed, tinkering on his dysfunctional helicopter blades. "Well, thanks. You screwed up my systems. That's what I get for helping a dude."

"Accessing data on Gizmo the Wolf. Yes. Comrades with Dash the Cheetah. Nemesis: Bandit the Raccoon. Inventor and scientist. 17 years of age. Parents died in a catastrophic experimental explosion at the age of seven. Interests are inventing, experimenting, creating robots and drones, eating pizza and other Italian foods, as well as females. Strong attraction towards Dash the Cheetah, but no known mutual emotions," NICOLE listed. "I'm very sorry for the loss of your parents."

"They died doing something they loved," Gizmo muttered, flicking some switches on a drone he had fished out. "Don't be sorry. How'd you know so much about me?"

"It's my duty to know data on all forms of life in most dimensions," The lynx replied, beginning to type commands into the control panel. "I apologize for shutting down your systems. I could not determine if you were a threat or ally. It was not in your description."

"Well, add that to your list," The wolf stated. "Also, you think you could wipe that fact about interests in females? Don't wanna sound like a creeper.

"That'd be false information in the database. I can't do that," The computer replied.

"Whatev's. Ya think you could get my stuff back online? I'm trying to catch a thief, who at the moment is getting farther and farther away."

"Certainly," NICOLE replied, and after a few minutes, all of Gizmo's inventions were working again.

"So you're a robot?" The hero asked, sitting back. "Pretty cool."

"Hardly. I'm not a robot. I'm an artificial intelligence program and a member of the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Also, being such is hardly 'cool.' I have never tasted edible materials or have felt many emotions other organisms have felt," NICOLE explained, turning to Gizmo and putting a hand on her hip.

"Well sorry to step on your turf, dudette," The wolf sighed. "All systems, scan for malware or spyware as well as hostile tracking programs and viruses."

"What is this 'dudette' you keep speaking of?"

"Huh? Oh, that's just what I call people. Every guy is a dude and every girl is a dudette. Either that or I call everyone bro."

"We are not related in any fashion, though," The lynx countered. "How can we be brothers? If we were related, in such a case, you would be my brother and I, your sister."

"You don't pick up on many slang words, do you?" Gizmo asked, slumping against a nearby wall.

"No," NICOLE said, and then changed the subject. "For your help in defending my systems, I shall help you track down your thief. If you wish to actually catch her, though, I would require something in return,"

"Great. Like what?"

"I would like a list of programmable emotions so that I may know what others feel. These would permanently reside in my systems, and I may begin to comprehend some of today's 'slang' phrases…dudette."

The genius laughed and leaned back. "Easy enough. I can do that. Also, don't try to use my words. They sound weird coming from you."

"Forgive me. I'm trying to learn different emotions by studying those around me. It's a slow process, but I need something to speed it up," The girl sighed.

"Looks like you've got one down. Impatience," Gizmo pointed out, smirking. "Gimme an hour to whip up a computer chip or something like that."

* * *

*With Silver and the others, at Espio, Charmy, and Vector's base, real time*

"Oh wait. It was a different Robotnik that created Shadow. Eggman found him in a deep sleep freezer thing," Silver mumbled to himself, suddenly getting distracted and remembering his conversation with Blaze from earlier.

"What's going on out here?" The pyrokinetic asked, walking, into the main room.

"You're okay!" Silver exclaimed, running up to his friend, but forcing himself not to seem too overly excited. "Uh, welcome back. How ya feeling?"

"Don't try to hide it. I heard everything you said to me while I was knocked out," The cat teased, smirking a little.

The telekinetic's face dropped and he sauntered over to the couch again. Blaze smiled and shook her head at the reaction. She was going to make him sweat a little before telling him anything.

"Welcome back. Glad you're alright," Shadow muttered. "Any idea how Sonic or Tails are doing?"

Blaze said no and sat down in front of the TV. After filling her in on everything that had happened to their friends, the pyrokinetic sat back and closed her eyes, trying not to be overcome with grief.

"Oh Big… I'm so sorry…" Amy sobbed, her head still in her hands.

* * *

*With Sonic, in his subconscious*

The Blue Blur was standing in a black area, with ink-like sludge on the ground around him. There were no lights whatsoever, and dead silence was the only thing that accompanied Sonic.

"Hello?" The hedgehog called, his voice echoing in the distance. "Amy? Tails? Knuckles?"

No one replied. Only his voice echoed off the black nothingness, taunting him.

"Anyone?"

Suddenly, a piercing laughter shot through the area, bouncing off every corner in the area. The laugh was deep and menacing, and one of which Sonic heard before, but couldn't place.

"Sonic, you fool. You have given yourself a false sense of security, thinking that I would never return," The voice cackled. "Your immature mindset has paved the way for my comeback, in my new, metallic form."

"Who are you? Show yourself!" The Fastest Thing Alive demanded, looking around.

The laughter kept coming. "The mistakes and foolishness of others will lead to the downfall of Mobius! First, Shadow the Hedgehog will die! Then Silver the Hedgehog! Finally, you will perish."

The sludge around Sonic began to climb up him. The hero began to rip the goo off of him, but it was too strong and was climbing too fast.

"I have seen into the future and have charted out my plan very carefully to the point where all of your friends will die, leaving no one with the same power as I have to stop me!" The voice boomed.

Sonic grunted and ripped more sludge off him, but the ooze was covering him quicker than he could pull it off.

"I will enjoy every second we have together, Sonic. We have so much catching up to do since we last met."

Eventually, the black sludge covered his face and slid inside him. The Blue Blur gagged and fell to the ground, his vision blurring.

"The dark shall rise again," The deep voice stated, and then everything went black.

* * *

*In reality*

Sonic shot out of his bed and looked around. A single window illuminated the room, and there were two beds in total and a table in between the mattresses. He spotted Tails in the corner, looking out the window pane. In the distance, smoke and flames rose up from Mobius' main city, clouding the sky with a sickening black.

_Black…_

Sonic lurched forward and started taking deep breathes, recalling the nightmare he'd just had.

_What was that ooze? And who was that guy? His voice sounds familiar… Didn't he...kill me before?_

"Sonic?" Tails gasped, turning to his friend. "You're alright! What happened to us?"

"Darkspines beat us. Don't know how we ended up here, though," The hero replied, swallowing his nervousness and looking up. "You got quite a hit to the head, didn't ya?"

"What are Darkspines?" Tails asked, cocking his head.

"Heh. You're kidding around at a time like this. Reminds me of someone else I know," The hedgehog chuckled. "Come on. Let's see where we are."

As Sonic opened the door to the room and stepped out to where the others were, the fox hung back and stared ahead.

"What's wrong? Come on! The others are waiting for us!" Sonic stated.

"You know them?" Tails asked, taking a few steps back. "Since when?"

"Uh, a little over six years?" Sonic responded, confused. "You know them! Stop kidding around. Come on, I'm sure Amy and Cream want to make sure you're alright."

"Who're they?" Miles asked again.

"You don't remember Amy or Cream? What about Shadow? Knuckles? Silver and Blaze? Rouge?" Sonic asked, and every time he said a name, Tails shook his head no. "Uh oh."

**There it is! I hope you all liked the chapter! I'll try to post some over break, since I found out that the condo has free wifi :D**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	7. Down But Not Out

**Greetings from the state of North Carolina! Vacation is going nicely, which is why I haven't been posting as fast, but I hope this post will last you all until I get back. Maybe another one a little later this week. We'll have to see.**

**Here it is…**

*Thirty minutes later*

"So he can't remember anything, huh?" Shadow asked in a disinterested tone. "That's…unfortunate."

"That's terrible! Are you kidding me? He doesn't remember any of us!" Amy cried, clasping her hands together and then turned to the fox. "Are you sure you don't remember?"

Tails shook his head and shrugged. "I believe you that we were friends, but I don't recall ever meeting you. How did I become friends with that black hedgehog?"

"Acquaintances. We were acquaintances," Shadow corrected, messing with his gun. "Get it right."

"So, he doesn't remember the beatings I once gave him, back in the day?" Knuckles whispered, leaning over to Sonic.

"If he does, he's doing a great job of hiding it," The Blue Blur muttered, and then turned to Blaze. "You should go check on Cream. She's…upset, to say the least."

The cat nodded and left the scene, leaving the heroes in the main room of Espio, Vector, and Charmy's base.

"Alright. Well, we've already established that Tails' memory is shot, however he still knows how to fix and operate some things. We can't do anything but try to remind him about his past. That being said, we need to get moving. We may be in a bad spot with our health and all, but our clones are tearing this dimension apart, limb from limb," Sonic explained, standing up and then turning to the chameleon, croc, and bee. "We could use some help."

Vector shook his head. "If all three of us were to help, bad stuff would probably happen here. We need to have resistance everywhere. Don't forget that Eggman has armies of robots swarming the rest of Mobius as well."

"You two will guard this area then," Espio replied, standing up from a chair. "I'll go with them."

"But…you might die!" Charmy sputtered.

"Heard that before," The ninja sighed.

"Well, we should head to G.U.N. and stock up on anything we may need," Shadow stated.

"If it's not already destroyed," Silver and Rouge said in unison.

"I'll escort you guys to G.U.N. and make sure everything is alright there. After that, I'll do a little picking off of some Egg-Bots and then make my way back here. We need to rally people throughout this world to fight back against Eggman," Espio stated.

"Worth a shot. We've gotten lucky in the past. Let's hope it'll happen again," Knuckles said.

* * *

*With Jet and Sally, in the mountains, ten minutes earlier*

"I think Eggman and his goons have passed over," The hawk reported, looking out from the cave the two were hiding in. "I don't like hiding. I should be out there, stopping Sonic and th—"

"Eggman already said that those were his creations. He made…or summoned…or whatever those things. Yes, they look like Sonic and the others, and they do talk like them, but there's too much darkness in that hedgehog of mine to be the real thing," Sally defended.

"Of yours? I thought you two split," Jet countered.

"I…Well, we…uh…"

"Whatever. I don't care about your love life. All I know is that my love was obliterated back in the main city, and my best friend was killed. I always wanted to beat Sonic, but now I'm gonna do it in a different way," The racer muttered, and then turned to the queen again. "Seriously. Where are your clothes? It's making me uncomfortable being around you when all you have is a jacket and boots."

Sally's left eye twitched in agitation. "I. Am. Fully. Clothed. When will people stop asking that?"

"Fine. We need to move towards the city. If those aren't Sonic and the others, then there's a chance the real ones are still alive. A chance. However, the president of Mobius doesn't know that those freaks aren't the real guys. We can either seek out Sonic and the others, or alert the president of what's going on. I can go both ways, so what's your call?"

The queen sighed. She knew what the right call was, but her emotions were getting in the way. Her whole body, other than her brain, which wanted her to go alert the president, was telling her to go see if Sonic and the others were okay.

She knew what she had to do.

* * *

*With Honey the Cat, real time, in the main city of Mobius*

The cat backed into a dark alley, shying away from two metal robots walking towards her. As they neared, they raised their hands and the fists were replaced with cannons.

"Target acquired. Assessing systems. Ready…" One robot stated.

"Mighty…Where are you?" Honey whimpered.

Honey had tried to fight off the robots with every move she had, but nothing would work. She didn't have any firepower with her, and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to use it.

Suddenly, a grey female hedgehog leaped down from the rooftops above and fired multiple shots into the robots. The droids shook a little, and then fell to the ground in a heap.

"Fire," The girl muttered.

"What happened to 'aim'?" Honey asked, peeking out from behind the newcomer.

"I'm Jessica Thorne. I'm here for business purposes, but I thought you could use some help," Jess stated, turning to face the cat. "You need to get out of the city. It's too dangerous for you here."

"I SAID STRICTLY BUISNESS!" A voice shouted from an earpiece in the girl's ear. "No interfering with any other dimensions until we get our power back up! I can—Blizzard! Stop tea bagging the dead rebels!"

Jess snorted and shook her head. "Calm yourself. Mute, I'm just helping a few people. After that, I'll go get Shock Charge. I know where he is now. Love ya. Bye."

"Thanks for the help," Honey said. "However, I'm gonna help some other people too. I need to find someone. Those drones are too powerful for my fighting abilities. Do you have an extra gun or something?"

The grey hedgehog pulled out a revolver and placed it in the cat's hand. "There. I admire what you're doing. It's brave, but dumb. Reminds me of another cat back home. Good luck, and take care of that gun. It's my third favorite."

* * *

*With Scourge the Hedgehog and Fiona Fox, in Moebius, three weeks later*

"I heard about the massacre in Mobius," Scourge stated, walking into Fiona's room. "I wonder if Sonic and Miles Prower were among those dead."

"One can only hope," Fiona sighed, looking at her boyfriend. "If they are, I wonder if they'd let us throw some flowers."

"Or a grenade," The evil hedgehog countered, smiling sinisterly. "It sure would be an explosive funeral if that were the case."

"Quite. Maybe we could seize control over there as well."

"And overthrow the existing powers there now? It would be a thought, wouldn't it?"

"It would! Ruler over two dimensions! Sounds fantastic!"

The green hedgehog sighed and lowered his glasses. "I'd be the king and you'd be my queen."

Fiona stood up and walked over to the villain. She placed her hand on his right cheek and smiled before pulling him in for a kiss. The two embraced and then fell to the floor and began rolling around.

It wasn't until a portal opened up on the balcony that he two stopped and looked. A red cat with orange streaks of fur on their head walked through and stepped into the room. With nothing but flaming gloves and red-hot metal boots on them, the cat looked to be about seventeen or eighteen and male.

"Scourge the Hedgehog; Fiona Fox; the king of the Burner Dimension requests your presence. Please follow me," The cat stated, then turned and walked through the portal again.

"Who was that?" Fiona asked, standing up.

"I recognize him. He's the only son of the king himself. Prince Ash they call him," Scourge grumbled. "Let's see what His Majesty wants."

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, three weeks earlier, by the G.U.N. headquarters*

The battered and bruised heroes ducked inside the G.U.N. headquarters base, making sure they stayed out of sight. Outside, their evil replicas were ripping the city apart, throwing cars and concrete everywhere, and attacking pedestrians on whim.

"How can we beat those guys? They know everything we know," Tails sighed, sitting down in a chair and turning on the TV that was in the room they were in.

"This is David Flick, reporting live from the streets of Mobius," A news reporter said, standing before a pile of flaming rubble.

"Convenient how we can watch this right at the beginning. He just started this report," Rouge muttered. "How do we even have power in this city anymore?"

"In a shocking turn of events, it seems that Sonic and the others have turned against the city, destroying buildings and harming innocent people," The reporter continued. "The damage costs are high and the number of lives lost is unclear, but one thing is being asked by everyone: When the heroes become villains, who's left to save us? Additionally, the president of Mobius has declared Sonic and the others public enemies."

Eight posters popped up on the screen, each one bearing one of the heroes' faces on it.

"If you encounter any of them, please do not attempt to restrain them. Run or hide as soon as possible!" The guy continued. "They are considered extremely dangerous and are pos—AUGH!"

A large pile of debris crashed to the ground in front of the reporter, nearly missing him. He was suddenly lifted into the air by the Darkspine Silver and launched across the sky until he faded out of sight. The camera was then ripped out of the cameraman's hand and brought close to the evil telekinetic's face.

"Come stop us," The evil Silver cackled before crushing the camera, turning the screen to static.

The group sat in silence for a minute or two before Sonic spoke up.

"We're wanted now. This makes things more difficult for us," The Blue Blur stated, leaning against the wall and shutting his eyes.

"I was just starting to have a better reputation," Shadow sighed. "Now these freak shows come along and take a dump on it. The first thing I'm doing when I see my evil counterpart is I'm putting a bullet through his skull."

"We need to do something! We can't just sit around and let Mobius get destroyed!" Amy cried. "We have to defend our home!"

"With the military on our butts now, I'm not sure we can," Silver mumbled, staring out the window at the ruined Mobius.

**There it is! A lot of open-ended issues in this one! Hope you guys enjoyed.**

**Remember to leave a review and I'll post again as soon as I'm available.**

**More to come…**

**Blizzard:** **For the record, I was not tea bagging the dead soldiers. I was practicing a new dance move that requires you to squat a lot over their head.**

**Shut up and get back in the story!**


	8. Comeback

**Hello everyone! Welcome to another chapter! Hope you guys are enjoying the story and this post will be the last one until I get back from vacation (Sunday).**

**Enjoy!**

*With Jess, twenty minutes later, at Eggman's base*

"Outside the base where Shock Charge is supposedly held," The female hedgehog reported, scanning the area. "Laser systems, sonar scanner, automatic turrets, coded and reinforced doors—This place is a fortress. Whoever has him in there is a very paranoid security freak."

"Not like it's stopped you on our past missions before. I'm sure you'll be fine. Just be sure to listen to any advice Shock Charge has. He's been in there a long time, and this guy that's holding him is obviously evil, so if that echidna gives you any tips or info on what's going on in there. Listen," Mute crackled.

"Hey, since this guy's a mad scientist or whatever, can you maybe see if he has a cold pizza machine? Ya know, one that spits out pizzas whenever you want?" Blizzard asked.

"I thought you liked cold corndogs," Jess countered.

"Meh. I like a little variety in life. Speaking of which, Mute, if you don't mind, could Jessica come with me as backup on our next mission? Not that you're bad or anything, it's just that…you intimidate me," The heroic cat stated.

"And I don't intimidate you?" Jess asked.

"Not as much as your boyfriend."

"We'll see, Frosty. Out," The ex-soldier finished, tapping her earpiece and drawing her pistol.

As she walked towards the back of the base, a loud boom echoed out in the sky, and a brown wolf flew over the trees, crashing into the forest below. A raccoon holding two blades soared after him, and then all was quiet. Jess looked back and scanned the area for a sign from either of the two, but when she saw nothing, she turned back to the base.

Suddenly, a door opened on the side of the headquarters, and ten robots shot out into the sky, after the wolf and raccoon. Jess ducked behind some shrubs and waited until the droids were gone before rushing through the open door. Once inside, she took cover behind some crates as two large, fully armed robots made their way to close the door. While they were busy with that, Jess slinked out of the room and into the shadows of a hallway.

_Those robots look exactly like the ones that are attacking Mobius. Are they being manufactured here by this guy?_

The hero crept through the halls, but every door she tried was locked. Eventually, she saw a ventilation shaft and kicked the panel out, crawling inside.

_I hate these things. Creeps me out…_

After a little bit of crawling, she started to hear a whooshing sound to her left. She decided not to go that way, assuming that there was a giant fan down that way, filtering the air in the base. However, when she turned to her right, the powerful suction of the fan began to pull her backwards. Panicked, Jess drew her knife and plunged it into the weak metal of the shaft, but the fan kept pulling her back, and her knife started to cut through the side of the vents, leaving a large gash in the side and making screeching noises with every inch that the blade moved.

"AAAHHH!" Jess called, her grip loosening on the knife.

"Jess! What's wrong?" Mute asked, but she couldn't hear him due to the sound of the fan blades. "CAN YOU HEAR ME? JESSICA!"

The female hedgehog reached for a grenade that she had strapped to her waist and unhooked it from her side. Using her teeth to pull out the pin, she tossed the grenade towards the fan. The bomb stuck towards the center of the air filtration system, and the large explosion that followed afterwards burned out the fan, ceasing the suction of air.

Jess breathed a sigh of relief as she let go of the knife and slumped down. Below her, voices of robots chattered rapidly, and she heard the clanking of footsteps coming towards a vent that was near her. The hedgehog scrambled to her feet and tossed down a sticky bomb, blowing a hole in the metal shaft and revealing a pipeline below.

"Not what I wanted, but it'll have to do."

"Jessica! Are you alright?" Mute asked in a panicked tone.

"Please tell me you found the pizza machine!" Blizzard butted in.

"I'm fine. Just got a little stuck is all..." The hero whispered.

After leaping down into the pipeline, which was a large enough area for her to stand in, Jess drew her pistol once more and started to run towards a vent opening at the end of the pathway. After kicking out the vent cover, she slipped into a room where two containers sat, attached to different tubes and wires.

"What?"

As the hero looked closer, she noticed that two figures were in the containers. One was made out of what looked to be green slime, containing no mouth or nose and the eyes it had were closed. The inscription at the foot of the chamber read "T-zero-X-one-C."

"Toxic?"

The other chamber, which read "The Plague," had a rock-like figure inside of it. The being was made of dark stone, but had dark green gas lines coursing throughout it. It had no nose, but had a jagged, improper mouth along with eyes. However, Jess was able to tell what color eyes were on this one, since it was looking at her. Those bright red eyes fixed on her, and the figure in the chamber smiled a little, but not in a friendly manner.

"Mmmmm hmmmm hmmmm," Jess heard The Plague laugh.

Giving the two horrendous creations a disgusted look, the hero turned and exited the room, running into two drones along the way. Quickly firing two shots into each of the robots, the droids fell to the floor as Jess made her way towards an echidna who was strapped to some metal wires.

"So you're the one who's making all that noise. I'm trying to sleep, ya know," Shock Charge sighed.

"My name is Jessica Thorne. I'm here to break you out," The hedgehog stated, moving towards a control panel. "Which one of these will release you?"

"Not that red button, that's for sure. That dumps water on me," The prisoner replied. "I think it's that green button. The one to the left."

After pushing the button, the metal wires slackened and the cuffs around Shock Charge opened. The hero collapsed to the floor; his muscles were weakened from being kept there for so long. The echidna couldn't get up, let alone walk.

"Come on. I need help up," Shock Charge stated. "Why do you wanna help me anyway?"

"Well, I need your help and Tikal worries about you," The assassin stated, pulling the electric hero off the ground and putting his arm around her shoulder. "You're gonna have to walk a little."

After a ways of creeping in the dark and fighting robots, the two made it out of the base and into the forest. There, they found a good spot to rest, away from the evil base.

"What use am I to you?" The hero asked.

"My dimension is falling apart. We need you to provide a little power for us while we find a better power source. In return, you'll get warm clothes, since we'd be in a cold dimension, food, water, shelter, and protection," Jess replied, obviously having practiced this before.

After a few minutes, Shock Charge nodded and stood up. "It doesn't seem like I have any other option. You saved me, and I refuse to live in my cousin's tribe. Too uncivilized. I'll do it, but I want to meet with Tikal first. I haven't seen her in ages."

* * *

*With Gizmo, a half hour earlier*

After the inventor had landed in the woods, he got up and took in his surroundings. He was back to hunting Bandit again, but this time, she had the upper hand. In the area he was in, she had the advantage since she could move through trees easily. Granted, the advancements the NICOLE had made to his systems were amazing, but they weren't winning the fight he was in, despite the lynx's promises. However, if he didn't have the upgrades in this fight, he probably would have been dead by now.

"Bandit?" The inventor called, looking around and readying his arm cannon. "Thermal systems: online. Increase sound and motion detection. Conserve backup power and ready cannon fire."

The raccoon came crashing through the trees, kicking the wolf backwards. She slashed his chest twice before knocking his legs out from under him. Gizmo rolled over and fired some cannon shots at his foe before she zipped up into the trees.

"Show yourself!" Gizmo called, ignoring the sounds of engine thrusters in the distance and grabbing at the cuts in his chest. "Increase agility and mobility in legs and feet."

The tech responded, and soon he was able to dodge with the best while scanning for heat signals and picking up even the slightest sound.

Suddenly, a loud thud sounded behind him, and the wolf turned to see Bandit. However, instead of attacking, the thief tried to stand, clutching her stomach. The inventor noticed a small hole in her gut, and the raccoon stumbled forward before collapsing to the ground, dead.

"Well, that's not what I wanted to happen," The hero muttered, looking up in the air where he heard more thrusters.

Ten robots hovered in the air, their weapons trained on the wolf. "You are trespassing on Doctor Eggman's property. Prepare for execution."

"CATCH, DUDES!" Gizmo called, tossing an EMP in the air.

One robot actually rushed over and caught it, then studied it closer. Once the bomb had gone off, the circuits of the drones were fried and the robots crashed to the ground.

Looking over at the dead thief, Gizmo sighed and shook his head. He'd have to let Dash know what happened, as well as NICOLE so she could update her archives. Walking a few feet away from the site, Gizmo pulled up his contact archives.

"Patch me through to Dash the Cheetah," The wolf ordered.

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, in the main city of Mobius, real time*

The heroes walked through the broken and silent streets of Mobius, looking around at the carnage of the once beautiful city.

"It's so quiet. I wonder where our clones are," Amy stated.

"Up here," A voice called, and the heroes looked up to see their counterparts on the rooftops above.

The Darkspines jumped down, landing in front of the heroes. Smirks of amusement were written on their faces as they walked towards the group with confidence.

"Oh, I hate these guys," Shadow muttered, readying himself.

"So, you want a rematch?" Darkspine Sonic called, stopping a good fifty feet from the heroes. "I was hoping you would."

"We're not letting you take over Mobius!" Silver snarled. "We're ending this thing!"

"You can't defeat us! We're unstoppable!" Darkspine Rouge countered. "Better in every way."

"Enough talk! Let's burn 'em!" Darkspine Blaze snarled, flames dancing in her eyes. "I want to walk on the ashes of my enemy."

**Hope this chapter was riveting enough for you! Sorry that this one was mainly OC based, but there were some different lines of the story, and I wanted to get those wrapped up or close to wrapped up so we can all focus in on Sonic and the others.**

**Leave a review with what you thought!**

**More to come..**


	9. Backstabbed

**Hey all! Just letting you guys know that since school's back in session for me, I won't be posting chapters as fast as I used to. It'll be more like a weekly thing, being Saturdays and Sundays. Just a heads up.**

**A shocking new foe arises at the end of the chapter. So prepare! It's one that exists, yet has never been introduced before.**

**Here's the new chapter…**

*With Jet and Sally*

"How far away are we from Mobius' main city?" Sally asked as she hung on to the hover board.

The wind whipped their faces, making their hair and feathers fly in every direction. Sally sniffed and looked around at the lush, green forest beneath her. It was so hard to believe that just a few miles away, death and carnage were rampant and here, in this tranquil area, life seemed to tick by like it always had. It made Sally long for home, while it made Jet consider throwing this whole thing behind him and leaving the queen to do what she wanted. After all, he wanted to avenge his friends, not be the taxi for a bossy chipmunk.

"Not too far. We should be nearing soon," Jet muttered, rocketing through the sky. "You know, you could really stand to worry less. That's not good for ya."

"I don't worry! I…make sure that I keep tabs on all situations!" The queen defended.

"Also known as worrying."

"Shut up and fly."

After a few minutes, the destroyed and blazing city came into view. It looked even worse now. The smoke that was being emitted from the flames on the buildings had cloaked the sky in an ashen color, and the air smelled of must and fire. Drones hovered around the skies above and every now and then a loud explosion echoed somewhere in the city.

"It'll be hard to find Sonic and the others in here…" The hawk stated, drawing his sword. "We're still not sure if they're even alive or not."

"Quit you're negative thinking and get us down there!" Sally groaned, and Jet reluctantly complied, forcing the hover board to dip down towards the ground.

* * *

*With Sonic, two minutes earlier*

"We're taking this city back!" Silver called, stepping off the ground and hovering in the air.

"This is Eggman's city now! Eggman's empire!" Darkspine Knuckles laughed, punching his fists together and taking a fighting stance. "We own this world!"

"Not for long! It's time to face a permanent defeat! Attack!" Sonic ordered, and the two sides rushed each other once more.

The Blue Blur ran towards his counterpart, who was coming at him with an equal speed, but when the villain got there though, Sonic dodged an uppercut, slid underneath his foe's legs, grabbed the clone's right foot and threw him into a small building, collapsing on the Darkspine upon impact.

"Yeah! Take that, ya cheap knock off!" The blue hedgehog cheered, bouncing on his feet slightly. "Old Shadow move for ya!"

"RAAAAAHHHH!" The villain roared, shooting out from the rubble and slamming his fist into Sonic's stomach.

The hero flew backwards, but Sonic back flipped, landed on a building and pushed off, hurtling towards his opponent. The Fastest Thing Alive rapidly punched Darkspine Sonic in the face before kick flipping him into the air and throwing him down on the ground. After that, Sonic picked up his foe and launched him into the air, making the clone disappear out of sight while the hedgehog pretended to check an invisible watch.

All around the hero, his friends were slowly winning the fight. Tails was furiously launching missiles and blasts of power out of the cannons strapped to his arms and shoulders; Rouge was swiftly dodging her counterpart's attacks and rapidly punching and kicking her attacker during a break; Knuckles was on top of his foe with his hands interlocked in the clones, wrestling with the villain; Amy had Darkspine Amy's chain whip wrapped around her hammer and was using it to repeatedly bash the weapon into the villain; Blaze was soaring around in the air, smashing her flaming fists into her clones and incinerating the evil cat whenever possible; Silver was lifting piles of rubble and very small buildings into the air and was bringing them down on his villainous self, and Shadow was furiously punching and kicking his opponent as they wrestled for a pistol lying on the ground.

Sonic looked up to see his counterpart hurtling towards him from above with an evil smile. Sonic leaped out of the way as the Darkspine clone slammed into the ground, creating a large crater.

"Very nice trick there, Sonic," The villain hissed. "I'm gonna have to pick up on that."

"Thanks! I learned it from Silver," The hero taunted.

The clone growled and shot towards the Blue Blur, but Sonic dodged to the left and roundhouse kicked Darkspine Sonic in the far, creating a sickening crack. Once the evil hedgehog had hit the ground he stood up and felt his mouth.

"I hink oo boke my jaw," The villain sputtered, then narrowed his eyes at the hero. "Oo ill pay for fat."

Sonic burst out laughing at the sound of his foe's words, struggling to suck in air. After he had wiped a tear from his eye and had stopped laughing, he lunged at his opponent and dug his quills into the attacker. Darkspine Sonic grabbed the blue hedgehog and tossed him to the side before running up the side of a building.

"Fall back!" The villain called, cracking his jaw back into place and in a few moments, the clones had quickly retreated.

* * *

*Five minutes later*

"Did we win?" Amy asked, huffing and puffing as she walked up to her friends. "Is it over?"

"I wish," Shadow sighed. "However, I don't think we've seen the last of them. Let 'em slink back to their blackened caves, though. We'll wait for 'em. Our next focus should be getting rid of these Egg-drones."

At the word "blackened," Sonic felt a wave of sickness wash over him. He clutched his stomach and sucked in some air as he remembered the voice in his dream and the black ooze that swallowed him up.

"You alright?" Knuckles asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

Sonic nodded and waved his hand, signaling he was fine. After a few minutes, military support arrived on the scene.

"Hey! Guys! Good to see you again!" Sonic called out to the soldiers, beginning to walk towards the troops. "You missed all the fun!"

"There they are! Don't move! You all are under arrest!" One soldier ordered as he and the rest raised their weapons at the heroes.

"Oh yeah… We're wanted terrorists, aren't we?" The blue hedgehog sighed, then turned to his friends. "Time to go?"

The others nodded and they took off in the other direction, dodging the gunfire that echoed behind them.

* * *

*With Jess and Shock Charge, an hour later, in the woods*

"Hey! What's that up there?" Jess asked, moving towards a slumped object in the distance. "It looks like…a body?"

The soldier quickly drew her pistol and looked around. Shock Charge clapped his hands together and electricity shot through his gloves and feet. The two surveyed the area as the grey hedgehog moved towards the raccoon and felt for a pulse.

"A girl. Still alive. Weak pulse, but they're still alive. Help me get her to a safer spot while I look for a medical kit," She stated.

_I recognize her from earlier. She must've run into the drones. I wonder where that wolf is, though..._

Picking the raccoon up, the two started to move the girl out of the open when the heard a whirring sound to their left. Looking in that direction, the heroes saw a brown wolf emerge from the forest with an arm cannon pointed at them.

"She's coming with me. I've got business with her..." The wolf stated, keeping the cannon aimed. "...Broskies."

Jess raised her gun and pointed it at the newcomer. "She's injured. She's not going anywhere until she gets medical care. She's especially not going with you, whatever your name is."

"See, you don't understand, dudette. I've been hunting her for quite some time, and I've finally captured her. I thought she was dead, but you proved me wrong," The wolf responded. "I'll say again, dudette. Drop her."

"Not on your life," Shock Charge growled. "I'm with her."

"You too, brah? Fine. This coulda been easy, Sparky," The teen wolf replied, shaking his head and readying his weapon.

* * *

*With Eggman, two hours later*

"Doctor Eggman! The Darkspines have retreated from Mobius and haven't returned yet! We're slowly losing control due to the military!" A droid called in a panicked voice.

"Don't worry, ZX-329. I'm sure my creations are just regrouping for another attack. They haven't abandoned me!" The doctor chuckled, shaking his head. "Besides, you forget that we still have thousands upon thousands of robots all over this dimension. We'll win this in no time."

* * *

*With the Darkspine clones, twenty minutes later, in the woods of Mobius*

"Are we just gonna lie down and surrender like that?" Darkspine Shadow seethed. "That's it? We're done? Down and out?"

"No! We're just in a too weakened state right now to face those guys again. They were using each other's moves and made it more difficult for us. We need to power up somehow in order to beat our counterparts," The evil Tails clone explained.

"I can't believe we lost that battle," Knuckles grumbled, kicking a stone. "We're more powerful than they are! We're better! We shouldn't lose like that!"

"It seems we need to learn some new tricks…" The evil Blaze stated.

"Well, I might be able to help with that…" A voice said from above.

The counterparts got into their fighting stances and looked upwards to see a shining grey hedgehog slowly coming down from the sky. His quills were slicked back and pointed upward, he wore a devilish grin and his eyes were narrowed, and his shoes looked to be made of a very shiny metal.

"I've been watching you fight, and I must say that you all are very skilled warriors. All you need is just a little push to get back in the game," The hedgehog continued. "I can give you that push, if you let me."

"Doctor Eggman will provide for us. We don't need you," Darkspine Sonic muttered. "I suggest you leave before we annihilate you."

"Doctor Eggman will provide? Did he provide support when you were fighting back there? Did he provide you with extraction when things didn't go well? You've provided for Eggman, but has Eggman provided for you?" The newcomer asked, grinning slightly and pointing a finger at each of the clones. "I say you teach those fools some respect, along with this Eggman character. Prove that you are stronger than all of them."

"He's not wrong…" Tails sighed.

"But we can't turn our back on our creator!" Blaze countered. "He gave us life!"

"He turned his back on us, though..." Evil Silver added.

After a few minutes of thinking, the group had reached a conclusion.

"Alright. Help us. What're you to gain from this, though?" The evil Silver asked.

"Partial control of Mobius, just like you all. I have a penance to pay," The hedgehog stated. "I have to return Mobius to its ancient, pre-founded state, just like it used to be."

The clones nodded, not wanting to intrude and upset their new ally.

"What's your name?" Blaze asked. "To whom do we owe our gratitude for such gifts and help?"

The grey hedgehog smiled sinisterly and looked down on his new pawns. "My name? My name is Nazo."

**There it is! Is Nazo a real character? Yes, and he was scheduled to appear in the Sonic X television series, but never did. Don't believe me? Google it. The wiki explains it all.**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	10. Nazo's Plan

*With Sonic and the others, in downtown Mobiocity, a half hour later*

"Well, I think we got away from the military," Sonic sighed, looking around at the wrecked area. "Man, they really did tear this place apart."

Buildings were either toppled over or leaning to one side. Not one piece of glass remained intact and the streets were littered with dust, rubble, and ash. Fire roared on a few buildings, and the polluted air made everyone cough and hack violently.

"Well, what should we do now?" Silver asked. "The Darkspines aren't around and neither is the military. Eggman's bots are far from this area as well, so there won't be any danger here."

"I suggest we search for survivors," Shadow stated. "There could be some here."

"I'll put out the fires," Blaze spoke up. "That's easy for me."

"Yeah, and I'll help move rubble to find people," The telekinetic added. "Knuckles? Shadow? Care to help?"

The two nodded and walked off to begin the search.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm gonna go see if we can get some communications back up in this city. Eggman has shut down every coms device in a five mile radius, but I'll see if I can get those back online so we can reach other parts of Mobius," Rouge stated. "Tails, I could use your help. I'm not all that great with computers, you know."

"Can I trust her?" The fox asked, leaning in and whispering to Sonic.

"Absolutely. Her crime days are behind her," Sonic replied, and the two went on their way, leaving the blue hedgehog and Amy behind.

"I saw you fighting back there. That was impressive!" Amy exclaimed. "But, the Darkspines knew all of our moves, so how'd you beat your clone?"

"My counterpart knows all of MY moves, so I had to borrow some of Shadow's and Knuckles' fighting styles," Sonic replied. "That threw them off. What about you?"

"Same," The pink hedgehog responded, smiling. "Wanna go look for survivors?"

Blizzard's advice from a few months ago echoed through Sonic's mind.

* * *

*Sonic's flashback*

_"She loves ya, bro. The only way she'll ever leave ya alone is if ya give her a shot. You need to CHILL out when it comes to being around her. Get it? CHILL out? Anyway, all I'm saying is that you gotta be nicer."_

* * *

*End of flashback*

Sonic shrugged. "Alright. Why not?"

Am smiled and ran ahead. "Come on, Slow Poke!"

"Who you calling slow?" Sonic called, running after her.

* * *

*With Jess and Shock Charge, forty minutes earlier*

"Why do you want her so bad again?" Jess asked.

"She's a galactic thief and renowned criminal. Bandit the Raccoon? Ever heard of her?" The wolf asked, waving his arm cannon around. "I'm the guy who always tries to catch her. Gizmo the Wolf? I'm sure you've heard of me, right?"

"I've heard of Dash the Cheetah, but not you," The electric echidna stated.

"Yeah. It's always Dash this and Dash that, but no one ever knows about Gizmo, the dude behind the ops and the mastermind of the team of two," Gizmo sighed. "Anyway, I've finally captured her, and I need to take her with me so she can be thrown in prison. She'll get treated for her wounds, but I need her. Who're you two again?"

"Shock Charge the Echidna and this is Jessica…Thorne? Yeah, Thorne," Shock Charge replied. "I was just rescued from that mad doctors' base back there by her and we're heading to see my cousin Tikal."

"Your cousin? I met with your cousin. She's a cool dudette. If you're good with her, then you're good with me," Gizmo stated, disarming his arm gun. "We'll take Bandit there and get her patched up, but after that, I got her."

* * *

*With Nazo, real time, in the forests of Mobiocity*

"Thank you for the upgraded powers and fighting techniques," Darkspine Amy remarked, feeling a new surge of energy flow through her body.

"Yes. This is…nice," Blaze added, igniting herself in blue flames.

"It's really not an issue. I want the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, and you all want Mobius. If you kill Sonic, then the Chaos Emeralds will be mine. Eliminate the others, and you will have Mobius and no one will be able to stop me from regaining the Master Emerald. Win-win situation as I like to think of it," Nazo explained.

"Will you be joining us for our fight?" The evil Knuckles asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Sadly, no. However, I will be keeping the army off your back. After that, I'm heading off to kill the only two beings that could stop me: the president of Mobius and this…Dr. Eggman. Their armies are dangerous to us all," The shiny hedgehog remarked. "A complicated plan, but it'll work. Besides, I can deal with any resistance in the other cities in Mobius."

Darkspine Sonic nodded. "Well, we thank you for your service, Nazo. We hope to work with you again in the future."

With that, the clones began the long haul back to the main city.

Nazo smiled. _Look at those fools, marching off to their demise. Even if we did manage to kill all who stand in our way, eventually we'd turn on each other, and I won't want to waste my energy on them. This battle should make a nice boom, though._

The hedgehog shot off into the air and began to soar through the skies. Going at a speed that would put both Shadow and Sonic to shame, Nazo was at his first stop in a matter of minutes.

"The Master Emerald…" The villain whispered. "Protected by the guardian's seal so none could steal it. Yet, I was born from it."

* * *

*In Nazo's flashback*

Due to the sudden outburst of death and destruction throughout the dimension, the amount of evil had overcome the amount of good, and had seized control over the aura in the dimension. Doing so had broken the bonds that had imprisoned Nazo back before Mobius was forged, and the hedgehog was freed.

"Finally, darkness is ruling. Now I AM FREE!" The villain roared as he shot out from the emerald, through the guardian's seal and into the woods.

The hedgehog landed on the ground with ease and looked around at his surroundings. Everything had changed since he had been captured. Everything looked different and new.

"Where's the ash? The Igneous rock? The lava? There're gone! Replaced with trees, grass, and blue sky! How is this possible?" Nazo growled, beginning to shoot beams of red light at his surroundings and making them blow up. "Gone! Everything's gone! I must find out what happened!"

After flying through the air, he came upon a small castle in the distance, and decided to go there. After landing in front of the castle and walking in, he watched through the door at a conversation that was occurring in one of the rooms in the main hall.

"…encoded this chip with all of the emotions a normal person has. I held up my end of the deal, and now you have to hold up yours. Where's Bandit?" A wolf asked.

"Very well. She is located near Dr. Robotnik's base a few miles from the city of Mobiocity. What she's doing there, I have no idea, but that is where you shall find her," A lynx replied.

"Alright. I'm outa here. Thanks," The wolf replied, extending some propeller blades out of his wrist bands and flying through a hole in the roof.

After a minute of waiting to see if the coast is clear, the villain walked through the door and pointed his hands at the lynx, like a gun.

"Tell me what happened to this place for the past two-thousand years or I blow your head off," Nazo hissed. "I want to know everything."

"Nazo the Hedgehog. Imprisoned around two-thousand years ago in the Master Emerald. Only released when darkness in Mobius becomes too great. Other information: unknown. You're a dangerous being, Nazo," The lynx stated.

"TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!" The hedgehog shouted, his hands glowing red.

"Why don't you take a look at the Mobius historical database and see for yourself," The girl suggested.

"I don't know how to use that thing. You set it up. Now."

The girl sighed and walked over to the computer. After pressing a few buttons and clicking on a few files, a large image containing pictures and words came up.

"Help yourself," The lynx said.

* * *

*An hour later*

The villain sat back in a chair and sighed, having just finished reading the entire history of Mobius.

"Fair amount of information, right?" The girl asked, turning off the computer.

Nazo snarled and shot a beam of light at the lynx, but it passed harmlessly through her.

"I'm holographic. I'm not flesh and blood," The girl stated, putting her hands behind her back.

"Then you must be hooked up to something…" Nazo muttered, then encased himself in a red ball of light and slammed into different items around the room.

Eventually, he smashed the computer, and the girl began to fade away. Suddenly, Nazo stopped and looked at the saddened girl with heartless eyes.

"NICOLE the Holo-Lynx. Status: Permanent shut-down. Service to Queen Sally: Terminated…" The girl stated before completely evaporating.

Nazo growled again and look around the room. "According to those files and the news casts, that Dr. Eggman has created some pretty mean clones. Perfect for helping me regain control of Mobius, and turn it into a wasteland! I better seek them out."

* * *

*End of flashback*

"Soon, precious Master Emerald, you and your children will be in my control, and we will bring glorious wreckage to this wretched dimension…" Nazo whispered.

**Since Nazo's powers are still undefined by SEGA or anyone else, I can make them up myself. Don't worry, I won't make him too weak or throw in any of that stuff.**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	11. Jet Lag

**Hey everyone! Sorry I've been gone forever! I've been packed down with school, sports and other stuff like that. Pretty vague and lame excuse, but I'm back and I'll try to write more often.**

**This is chapter 11 and there're 19 chapters in this story. Who'll survive? Will the heroes win? They usually do, but then again I am known for unexpected twists.**

**Enough talk! Enjoy another chapter…**

*With Jet, two hours later, nearing Mobiocity*

"When're we getting there again?" Sally asked, clinging onto Jet's board as they flew through the air.

"For the last time, we'll get there in a few minutes. We're nearing the city soon," The hawk seethed, adjusting his goggles.

After about a minute, the two began to hear a buzzing noise.

"You hear that?" Jet asked, looking around.

"Yeah. Sounds like buzzing," The queen replied.

"Thanks. Couldn't have guessed that on my own," The racer muttered, and then slowed to a stop when a swarm of robots suddenly appeared in front of them. "Mirror projectors. Look practically invisible by reflecting your surroundings. Clever."

"Silos…" Sally whispered, recognizing the new inventions of Robotnik's.

"By order of Dr. Eggman, you two are sentenced to termination," The lead robot ordered, raising his gun, and the others behind him followed.

"I've dealt with these guys before. They fire heat-seeking missiles that obliterate upon impact. Only Sonic has been able to outrun them that I know of," The queen explained.

"Well, I'm no Sonic. I'll distract them while you head towards the city. I'll meet you somewhere in the eastern projects," Jet sighed.

"You're crazy! You can't outrun these guys! They're too powerful!" Sally exclaimed.

"You should leave."

"No! You're coming with me!" The queen said.

"That wasn't a request."

With that, Jet turned and pushed Sally off of his board, sending her plummeting towards the forests below.

"JEEEEEEEEEEEET!" Sally shouted as she fell, then her voice dissipated as she was swallowed up by the woods.

The bird turned back to the army of robots and drew his sword. "Thanks for not killing me while we bickered."

"Open fire," The leader ordered, and a barrage of rockets flew out of the cannons on the robots.

Jet turned his board around and shot off in the opposite direction, weaving back and forth. A missile began to get close to the racer, but before it could hit, Jet slashed it open with his sword. However, the chemicals in the missile splattered on his sword, and the blade began to fizzle away in his hand. Startled, the bird let go of the weapon and made a sharp left.

The rockets followed.

They were getting closer.

"Uh…Plan B?" Jet said to himself, leaping off of his board and kicking it at the rockets.

Around half of the missiles shot towards the hover board and exploded, disintegrating it in seconds. The hawk closed his eyes as he fell towards the ground. The racer slammed into the ground and rolled to a stop near a moderately sized oak tree. He looked up with blurred vision at the rest of the rockets hurtling towards him.

"Aw, dang…" Jet muttered, closing his eyes.

The remaining missiles came down on the racer like a hammer, to the tenth fold. Pain rocketed through his body as blow after blow struck him in different parts of his body. When the air and dust cleared, the hawk was battered and bruised, but was still intact.

"Huh?" Jet gawked looking at himself, then closed his eyes and clamped his beak together when he saw his arms and legs beginning to fizzle away. "I don't wanna die…"

The chemicals had fizzled everything up to his elbows and knees and was now slowly crawling up him. Organic matter took longer to evaporate.

"Please…"

He couldn't feel anything. It didn't feel like something was eating him away. He felt like he normally did, minus the bruises and wounds. The chemicals had now reached his chest and were climbing towards his neck.

"Jet…" A faint, female voice called in the distance.

"Wave…?" The hawk whispered, fluttering his eyes.

"We can race again, Jet. Storm and I are waiting for you…" Wave's voice cooed.

Just before the chemicals completely evaporated the hero, one last sentence emitted from the racer's mouth:

"I was too slow."

* * *

*With Sally, ten minutes earlier*

Once the queen had regained her composure from her fall, she looked up at the sky just in time to see Jet race off.

"Search for the other one," The lead bot echoed from the sky.

_I gotta hide,_ The queen thought, and began to race through the dense woodlands.

Dodging in between trees and bushes, Sally shot through the brush, not knowing where she was going or if she was being followed. She heard an explosion, then another one shortly after in the distance, but forced herself to ignore it as she continued to run. Eventually, a cave came into sight, and the queen ducked in, hoping no robots would find her there.

* * *

*With the president of Mobius, an hour later, in the safe bunker of the presidential residence*

"How are we doing with the liberation of Eggman's forces?" The president asked, looking at a large screen of the main cities in Mobius.

"We're making major headway in the smaller cities and villages, however the large cities are still under control," A soldier reported. "Eggman has yet to be located, and Sonic and the others are still eluding us."

"We'll find them. They can't hide forever…" The leader muttered, rubbing his facial hair. "How's my daughter?"

"She's safe. Bored, but safe, sir," Another troop replied. "She wants to play Scrabble with you, sir."

"Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes. I have business to attend to," The president ordered.

"Sir! I transmission is coming in! It's from Dr. Eggman!" An operative called from across the room.

"Pull it up on the screen," The leader ordered, and the villain with the large mustache popped up before the people in the room.

"Hello, Mr. President. How do you do?" The doctor greeted with a maniacal smile. "In a tough spot?"

"Not at all. We have a plan formed to bring you down for good, Eggman," The president lied, adjusting his glasses. "I suggest you surrender."

"Ah. I think not. See, I know you can't take back Mobius without taking over the main cities, which you aren't able to do at the moment. However, I have a proposition for you, president. Turn yourself in and I'll stop the attack."

"I don't think so, Robotnik," The president spat. "We'll win this fight, even without the help of Sonic and his friends."

"Then I'll continue my assault, more lives will be lost, and I'll take over Mobius anyway," Eggman exclaimed with glee. "Change your mind?"

A silence hung in the room for a minute or two before the leader of Mobius gave his answer.

"No," The president said firmly.

"Fine! Your demise!" Eggman chuckled, and then pointed a long finger at the leader. "I'll be coming for you next."

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, thirty minutes earlier*

"That's the last of them. All of the survivors have been saved and the rubble has been cleaned up," Silver reported, joining the group in a small, burnt up park. "They all ran away in fear after we saved 'em."

"Couldn't guess why…" Knuckles muttered.

"I was able to get the coms back up with Tails. Other cities can reach each other now. More survivors are being helped," Rouge stated. "Tails still doesn't remember a thing."

Blaze sighed and looked around at the others. "Well, now what?"

"We should try to convince the president of Mobius that our clones are the ones attacking our home, not us," Sonic suggested.

"If we don't get annihilated first…" Shadow muttered, checking his ammunition for his pistol.

"If we ever want the military off our backs, then we have to do this," The blue hedgehog countered.

"I agree with Sonic!" Amy exclaimed.

"Course ya do…" Knuckles sighed, and then shook his head. "This is so messed up."

"We all know this, and we have to do this. Let's go," Rouge stated, walking ahead of the group.

* * *

*With Blizzard and Mute, in the Frostbite Dimension*

"Hey. How're you guys doing?" Mute asked through the intercom, walking down the hallway.

"Pretty good. We're…helping someone out before we head back," Jess crackled.

"Alright. Just…stay safe. Okay?" The sniper finished before ending the conversation.

"'Just stay safe. Okay?' You're REALLY bad at that, ya know?" Blizzard called from the rooftops.

"I don't see you in a relationship, and you're giving out relationship advice?" The grey hedgehog responded.

"Low blow, bro. I'm working on it. You remember Blaze? I think I got a chance."

Mute scoffed. "A chance? You've got a better chance of dating a queen than you do with her!"

"And the hits just keep coming…"

"Listen, we've got more rebels heading this way in about an hour. You ready?"

Blizzard looked down on Mute and smiled. "I'm always ready for some action."

**Remember to leave a review!**

**I'll write more in a little while!**

**More to come…**


	12. Jailed Justice

**Hope you guys liked that last chapter…or not depending on if you liked Jet or not.**

**Special thanks to kookies 14 for the review. Always nice to hear from someone new, and I'm very happy and flattered that you think this past story of mine was nice enough to read to your five year old sis. I've never gotten a review like that before. Shout out to you two.**

**Now, here's a new chapter…**

*With Sonic and the others, at the president's headquarters, twenty minutes later*

"Well, here we are. Outside the main command base for the people trying to kill us," Silver observed. "This should be good."

"Don't be so negative! I might have to start calling you Shadow Number Two!" Sonic joked, receiving a death glare from his darker counterpart. "We'll just head inside and explain everything."

"What if they don't believe us?" Blaze asked, and Sonic thought for a moment.

"Hey…Doesn't this place have access to all the security camera footage in all of Mobius? If we're able to pull some of that from our fight back at our headquarters, then they'll have to believe us!" The Blue Blur exclaimed.

"We're so dead. This isn't a good idea at all," Knuckles muttered.

"It'll be fine! Come on! Let's head in and clear this whole misunderstanding up!" Sonic cheered, walking into the base with his team behind him.

* * *

*One minute and thirty seconds later, in the courtyard of the headquarters*

The team looked around at the massive number of soldiers that surrounded them, observing their weapons and battle gear.

"I SAID GET ON THE GROUND!" A soldier yelled, who everyone assumed to be the leader. "LAST WARNING!"

The heroes got on their knees and held their hands in the air.

"Great idea, genius. Anymore great plans?" Shadow seethed, tossing his pistol to the side.

"Uh…pray they don't execute us?" The blue hedgehog squeaked, looking around at the unhappy glares from his friends.

* * *

*With the Darkspine clones, in the center of Mobiocity*

"I feel AMAZING!" Darkspine Silver shouted as he threw a Mobius soldier across the area. "This surge of power is just what I needed!"

Evil Blaze, who was encased in a shield of fire, created a fiery tornado which lifted the remaining guards into the air, incinerating them in an instant. "Such abilities I've never had before. I like it."

"Remind me to thank Nazo for this gift," Knuckles' clone chuckled, slamming his fists into buildings and toppling them over.

"Mobius is ours once again!" Sonic cheered, standing on top of a tall building and looking at the carnage below. "Nothing can stop us."

* * *

*With Nazo, two miles away from Mobiocity*

"Everything is going according to plan…" Nazo chuckled, looking out at the fire and explosions that were tearing through the center of the large city. "Once this Sonic character is dead, I'll have the Chaos Emeralds. Once the new guardian of the Master Emerald is dead as well, then the shield around the Master Emerald will fail and I will be able to change this dimension back to the way it used to be. Back before any of this had taken place."

The grey hedgehog thought back to the last time he had been around. Everything was so much different. Chaos ruled the land, and he had controlled the chaos. Molten rock and ash had filled the area, and the sky was as black as night. The sun was somewhat shrouded and the unhappy inhabitants obeyed his every command. He was to be feared, along with his right hand man, Mephiles. However, due to the rise of the first Master Emerald guardian along with a few of his allies, Nazo had lost control of the dimension, Mephiles had his mind wiped, was captured, and was sealed away for eternity, and the land that once was turned into…this.

_I wonder where Mephiles is now…_ Nazo thought as he absorbed the complete anarchy around him. _Probably still trapped. I'll free him once I'm in control again._

As the villain looked around the area once more, something caught his eye. Robots were scanning an area of the forest, and it seemed like they were looking for something…or someone.

Nazo shot a ball of red light out of his hand, which flew over and hovered by the drones. It then started to suck everything in the area towards it. Trees, rocks and even the droids were sucked up into its mighty pull. Then, with a sudden explosion, the light dissipated and everything that was sucked up in it was disintegrated.

After waiting patiently for ten minutes, he saw a female chipmunk creep out of the cave and into the open. Nazo's hand shot out and the girl was immediately encased in a red aura. Struggling, she was brought over to the villain and held in the air, mere feet from the dangerous being.

"And why are robots searching for you, hm?" Nazo asked, a tinge of curiosity in his voice.

"Dr. Eggman was trying to kill me. He already killed…" Sally whispered, holding back any emotions, but then shook her head. "Who're you?"

"Nazo," The villain said flatly. "Surely you've heard of me."

"Can't say I have."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nope," The queen replied, looking at him with a mix of anger and confusion. "Can I be brought down now?"

"Afraid not, Dearie. You see, I'm going to visit the president now, and if anything goes wrong, you'll be my leverage. A hostage would really be a safe bet, and I do need his cooperation for all this to work out in the end," Nazo explained.

"Don't you realize who I am?" Sally scoffed. "I'm a queen as well as the leader of the Freedom Fighters, which is a universal force for liberty!"

"Save the mottos and speeches for someone who has the time, Dearie. Let's go pay the president a visit now, hm?" Nazo said, smiling sinisterly.

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, ten minutes later, at the President's base*

The eight heroes sat all together in one room with chains wrapped around them. Special measures had to be taken with Shadow, Sonic, Silver, and Blaze. To neutralize Sonic and Shadow's speedy abilities, their arms and legs were completely encased in a heavy lead. Silver was in a plastic, fiber-like dome that prevented him from using his telekinetic powers. Blaze was in a similar container, but this one had water in it, which countered her flame abilities.

"What game are you eight playing? Destroy your own home and then turn yourselves in? Did you have a mental snap, or are you just sick people now?" The president bellowed over the intercom.

"Well, ya see Mr. President, that's not us out there," Sonic stated.

"Don't lie to me, hedgehog! Because of you and your friends, Eggman has taken over most of Mobius! His drones are wiping out my men, and our numbers are so low that we can't afford to defend this place if he chooses to attack it, OF WHICH HE HAS!" The leader shouted. "Now, tell me how to shut down those drones of his so we can take back our home, our so help me I'll show you what we do to traitors like yourselves."

"Yeah. This idea was fantastic…"Knuckles muttered.

"We're gonna die," Rouge yawned, leaning against a wall.

"If we knew how to stop those robots, then we would have by now, because that's not us out there!" Amy called out. "You have to believe us!"

"The only thing I believe is that you all are going to be in pain for a while until you tell us how to dismantle these droids!" The president hissed, then paused and sighed. "Look, I know that you all have protected this place for many, many years. I don't know why you all changed so quickly, and I don't think you did this on purpose. Maybe Eggman brainwashed you all, but when there are more innocent lives at stake out there, and many have been taken already, I can't allow that to continue, no matter what your past may be. I'm sorry, but we'll have to resort to some more…advanced methods of interrogation. Guards!"

The door to the room opened, and four guards entered the room with metal sticks and electric rods. A silence hung in the air as the two sides looked at each other.

"Do it," The president ordered.

Amy began to whimper slightly and Knuckles gritted his teeth. All Blaze and Silver could do was watch at this point. Sonic bowed his head and closed his eyes while Shadow and Tails glared at the soldiers. Rouge looked at Shadow and then at Knuckles and sighed.

"Well, I didn't want to, but I guess I have to…" The bat yawned again.

Although her hands were encased in the metal handcuffs that wrapped around her fists and went up to her arms, there was still a little wiggle room in there for her to press a small button on a pad, which had been concealed in her left glove.

Suddenly, three explosions rocked the base and alarms started to go off everywhere. Red lights flooded the room and the soldiers looked around wildly. A soldier over the intercom spat out areas where the explosions had gone off and requested all soldiers to defend those spots from attack.

The guards looked at each other, and then ran off to where they were needed.

"What did you do?" Knuckles seethed.

"Saved that pretty face of yours from a serious beating. You're welcome," Rouge replied stalely. "Let's see if we can get out of here."

* * *

*Thirty minutes earlier*

After the heroes had surrendered to the guards, the soldiers had lead them through a series of corridors and passages to their interrogation room. Rouge suddenly stopped in the middle of the walkway and looked around.

"Keep moving," A guard ordered, and pushed the bat forward.

Rouge stumbled to her left and ran into another guard.

"Oops. Sorry, Honey," She said in her usual suave tone, quickly pocketing some small mines as well as the detonator out of the soldier's fanny pack.

"Lay off her!" Shadow and Knuckles said in unison, and then looked at each other and frowned.

"I'm fine, boys. Really," The bat sighed as she continued to march.

Along the way, she activated and tossed aside the mines she had collected, and once all were gone, she slipped the thin, small detonator into her left gloved and down where her hands was.

_If things go bad, then we'll be able to use this…_ The bat thought. _One thing a life of crime has taught me: always make a backup plan._

**There you guys go! Hope you liked the chapter! I'll write another in a little bit. **

**Remember to leave a review! I always like to hear from you guys.**

**More to come…**


	13. Prison Break (Part 1)

**Sorry I've been gone a little bit guys. I've been busy with school, HC, sports, and all that other stuff.**

**And to kookies, you might wanna create a FanFiction account so we can PM. It'd be easier that way for me to get you set up and all that.**

**Here's the new chapter…**

Since Sonic and Shadow couldn't move due to the cuffs around their feet, and Silver and Blaze were trapped in their containers, Rouge, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were the ones able to slam their metal shackles against the interrogation window in the room until it broke. Normally, there would've been a guard behind the window to activate the security system to stop the prisoners, but since all the soldiers were away at their battle stations, no one was present to stop them.

After inserting their arms and cuffs into a slot, the shackles were removed by the robotic system that handled that, and the four were able to use their hands again. Tails, figuring out which buttons to push so that Silver and Blaze were free, then took on the business of removing Shadow and Sonic's cuffs. Since the cuffs were made out of a highly durable metal, they could not be broken through brute force, so after five minutes of working, both of the hedgehogs' restrainers were off.

"Nice thinking," Shadow said, nodding towards Rouge. "Let's get out of here."

Suddenly, the intercom came on.

"Unknown hedgehog coming from the east. Be advised, he has a hostage. Take precaution in shutting him down. All other units, Eggman drones are attacking the west and north wings. Termination authorized. Get the president to the safe bunker!" A soldier ordered.

"Looks like we have company," Knuckles stated, breaking down the door to their cell and the heroes ran down the long hallway.

"We can't let the president get to that bunker just yet. If he gets in there, he'll be in there until this whole conflict is over. We need to delay them so we can explain ourselves," Sonic explained.

"We can't let these guys take over this place either," Tails added. "We need to split up."

"I'll go check out his mysterious hedgehog. Blaze, you coming?" Silver asked, and the cat nodded.

The two then made the next right that came up on the heroes.

"Shadow, Knuckles, and I will assist in stopping Eggman's robots, as well as trying not to get shot at by the troops here," Rouge spoke up, then the three sped ahead of Sonic, Tails, and Amy.

"Looks like we're tracking down the president," Sonic stated. "Come on. Let's go get him."

* * *

*With Silver*

After the two heroes had made their way to the east wing of the base, Silver blew a hole through some rubble, revealing the outside world. Before him, troops and snipers had their weapons and cannons trained on the grey hedgehog, who hovered in the air holding a familiar friend.

"Sally?" Blaze asked, cocking her head. "What's she doing here?"

"Dunno. What I'm wondering is who that guy is," Silver replied. "Let's go find out."

Before the cat could stop him, the telekinetic flew up into the air before the mysterious figure. Below, frantic shouts came from the soldiers as half kept their fix on the new hedgehog, and the other half shifted their weapons over to Silver.

"And who might you be?" Silver asked, using telekinesis to rip Sally away from the figure and toss her down to the troops below.

"Can't anyone set me down nicely?" Sally called as she fell into the grasp of one of the guards.

"Nazo. And you?" Nazo stated. "You took my guest away from me. What's your name, you stupid, brave soul?"

"Silver the Hedgehog," The hero responded.

"I see. Quite an interesting little past you've got there, Silver. No matter. I need to see the president, if that's alright with you," Nazo continued.

"Well, you can't right now. He's being taken to a safer place, so y—"

"That wasn't a request," The hedgehog cut in, suddenly shooting towards Silver and pile driving him into the base below.

The hero slammed through the ceiling of the building and tumbled to a stop in another narrow hallway, which had multiple intersections in the middle of it. Outside, gunfire sounded as the troops opened fire on Nazo, however the bullets became enveloped in a red light around the attacker, and Nazo began blasting away at the soldiers below.

* * *

*With Blaze*

Blaze rushed over to the guard holding Sally and ripped her out of his hands.

"I'm taking you somewhere safer!" The pyrokinetic explained, shooting off in a fiery dash towards the only safe wing of the base, the south one.

"I can handle myself!" Sally defended.

"And might I say you're doing a great job at it so far it seems!" Blaze spat.

"I need to either speak with Sonic or the president. I don't care who, but I need to talk with one."

"Sonic it is," Blaze concluded. "He'll be easier to get to than the president. Why do you need to see him anyway?"

"I'll explain on the way," The queen replied.

* * *

*With Silver*

After the soldiers outside were defeated, Nazo hovered down to Silver, who was waiting for him below.

"You're NOT seeing the president," Silver seethed.

"Fool, I will see whoever I want to see, and no one will be able to stop me," Nazo boomed. "Especially you."

The hero lunged at his assailant with his hands encased in a blue light. Silver threw two punches at Nazo's head. They both hit their mark, but the villain didn't even flinch. The attacker still looked at Silver with dark amusement with every punch he received; his eyelids were lowered slightly and a smirk was plastered on his face. After a few minutes, Silver attempted to kick Nazo in the chest, but the villain caught his leg and launched him into a wall, sending the hero tumbling through three more before rolling to a stop.

Nazo began to slowly walk towards Silver with the same dark grin on his face. The hero summoned a shield of telekinetic energy on one of the walls, which blocked the hedgehog from moving any closer. The attacker just laughed and placed his hands on the shield. His palm began to glow red, and the shield shattered suddenly. Silver began to launch balls of energy at Nazo but the assailant would just catch them, rotate them slightly and throw them right back into Silver with ease.

"Die!" Nazo roared sharply, summoning a large red orb in his hand and throwing it at Silver.

The hedgehog felt his mind wrap around the crimson ball and whirled it back around, slamming it into Nazo. A large explosion went off once the orb hit, and the area around the two was blasted backwards. Silver flipped in the air as he was launched back, but regained his composure and hovered steadily in air.

_Did I do it?_ He thought.

Smoke filled the hall they were in. Roof boards were missing, and a few lights had been obliterated. However, to Silver's surprise, there were many functioning lights that lit the area he was in.

_I think I won!_ The hero thought excitedly.

However, that excitement turned to shock when a pair of glowing red eyes pierced through the smoke.

Then, the power went out, and everything went black.

* * *

*With Rouge, Knuckles, and Shadow, in the north wing, two minutes earlier*

"These robots are tougher than I remember!" Knuckles growled as he punched a hole through the body of a droid.

"Eggman has upgraded the strength and durability of these drones. They're improved," Shadow added, leaping on top of a robot's head and firing bullets into the heads of other droids. "It seems like the army is giving us a break for now, but after this is over, they'll try to arrest us again."

"Well, we won't let that happen then, won't we?" The bat called as she twisted a drones head around and made it start shooting its robot brethren. "Heads up! They're gonna try to cut the power supply to this place! Everything will be down if that happens!"

"I got it!" Knuckles called as he sped towards more robots.

However, once he leaped in the air to take another down, that robot quickly spun around, slamming its arms into the hero and sending him flying into the wall near the power supply. The drone then flew over to Knuckles and picked him up in the air.

"Let me go, Bolt Brain!" The echidna seethed, struggling against the grasp of the robot and banging on its arm.

The droid rapidly began to slam the hero into the power supply. Sparks flew out of the large electric cube, and Knuckles began to get electrocuted. Shouting in pain, the Guardian of the Master Emerald fought against the robot more before Shadow put a bullet through the drone's head.

Knuckles fell to the ground, gasping for air and groaning in agony.

"The power supply is fried. The base has gone dark," The dark hero remarked. "We might be in trouble now."

* * *

*With Sonic, Tails, and Amy, in an elevator heading down towards the president's bunker, real time*

"Aaaaaand the powers gone out. Fantastic," Sonic groaned as he turned to Tails. "You think you can remember how to get us out of this thing?"

"There might be something in here that can allow us to escape. A fire hatch for emergencies, maybe," The fox stated, looking around. "It's hard to find in the dark, though."

As the heroes began feeling around for the latch, and Sonic placed his hand on something that had some life to it.

"Hey Tails, I think I found something," The Blue Blur stated. "It feels like something is slightly pounding in there.

"That's my heart, Sonic," Amy said, who was right in front of the hero. "Please stop feeling my heartbeat and search for an exit. I can't believe I just said that."

"Oh…er…yeah," Sonic sputtered, continuing to look around. "There has to be an e—"

The Fastest Thing Alive was cut off by a loud explosion from above, and the elevator dropped down slightly and halted, stuck.

"What was that?" Amy asked, fright in her voice.

"I think we may be in trouble," Tails replied. "The elevator cord has been cut. Right now, the edges of the elevator have dug into the sides of the shaft, preventing us from falling to our death. Don't know how long that'll last, though."

Another large explosion went off, and with that, the elevator became unstuck and the backup cord snapped, sending it into a straight down free fall.

Amy screamed as she clung to the side of the wall.

"We have to get out of here! Look for an exit faster!" Tails shouted in panic, punching and kicking at any part of the elevator.

"I think I found something!" Sonic exclaimed. "A fire exit in the ceiling of this thing!"

After trying to push it out, Sonic widened his eyes and turned to the pitch blackness in the room again, where his friends somewhere resided.

"It's stuck!" He yelled.

"OF COURSE IT IS! HEROES NEVER CATCH A BREAK, REMEMBER?" Amy shouted.

**Cliffhanger! HAHAHAHAHA!**

**Aren't I a stinker?**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	14. Prison Break (Part 2): Blackout

**Hello once again! Sorry I've been gone for so long, but I've been really busy!**

**We're gonna be tying up some other loose ends in this chapter as well as finding out what happens to everyone in the big fight. Everyone I've introduced in this story has a larger role in the series than they appear…**

**Enjoy…**

*With Blizzard and Mute, one hour earlier, in the Frostbite dimension*

"I'm just saying that maybe they should try peaceful protests instead of 'let's go kill those guys in that fort thing' and maybe that'll work!" Blizzard exclaimed, looking at the cards in his hand.

The two friends had been sitting at a table near a massive teleporter playing cards for a while now, awaiting the message from Jess to take her back home.

"Like that'll ever happen," Mute sighed.

"It could, ya know," The cat replied, then threw down his cards. "Gin!"

"We're playing poker," The grey hedgehog stated, looking at his friend with amusement.

"Are we? I lost track after Blackjack, War, Go Fish, and Crazy Aces," Blizzard responded.

"Ready to head home, boys," Jess crackled through their intercom.

The two heroes stood up and began to walk over to the teleporter.

"You're insane," The sniper chuckled.

"No, I'm Blizzard," The cat joked, summoning a snow man at a far corner of the room.

"You're definitely crazy," Mute said, shaking his head. "Start up the portal."

The cat pressed a few buttons on the screen and raised an eyebrow. "Weird."

"What?"

"There have been multiple entry dates in here that I don't think we entered. Mobius around five times, and only one was us. Another had two portal holes to the…Burner dimension. That's one hot place," Blizzard explained. "We didn't enter these."

Mute shrugged. "Probably a defect. Damaged in that big battle with the council members, right? Either that or you're insane."

"Stop calling me that! Maybe…" The hero muttered, and then opened up a rift.

After a minute, Jess and an echidna stepped through the portal. Immediately, the newcomer began to shiver uncontrollably.

"You'll get used to it. Mute the Hedgehog; thanks for agreeing to help us," The sniper stated, walking up to the echidna and shaking his hand. "You've already met Jess."

"Shock Charge the Echidna. People just call me Shock or Shocker, though," The guest replied.

Blizzard walked up to the newcomer and shook his hand as well, and then looked at Mute. "Hi. I'm insane...apparently."

"Clearly," The echidna responded, looking at the stone-faced cat.

"Ha ha ha," The icy hero seethed, then turned and walked off. "I'm getting a frozen corn dog."

"He's always like that. He's a teddy bear once you get to know him," Jess stated from behind Shock Charge. "Come on, I'll show you your sort-of new home."

* * *

*With Silver, real time, in the President's base in Mobius*

A loud, deep laugh echoed throughout the dark halls of the base as the hero whirled around in the darkness.

"Where am I, Silver?" Nazo echoed. "Am I…behind you?"

The telekinetic spun around and shot a burst of energy at…nothing. Suddenly, Nazo appeared to his left, elbowing him in the chest and knocking his legs out from under him.

"So many villains to face… How will you stop them all?" The assailant questioned suavely.

"I'll take you down!" Silver shot, getting up.

Nazo cackled again, and blasted Silver from behind with a beam of red light, sending the hero tumbling across the floor. Silver got up and glared into the darkness. Using his mind, he felt the whole hallway wrap around him, and knew just where Nazo was.

Behind him again.

Silver spun around and batted the villain's hands away. The hero kicked Nazo in the chest and pulled a metal crossbeam out of the damaged wall to his left. He brought the beam back, then launched it like a missile towards the hedgehog. Nazo deflected the metal bar into the air, caught it and brought it down upon the hero. Silver grunted as he blocked the beam with his wrists, then ripped the weapon away from Nazo and flung it into the ground before him. Silver began to bombard Nazo with multiple blasts of telekinetic energy, making the attacker stumble backwards. The hero then sent a long beam of energy hurtling towards Nazo, however the villain caught it, twisted it around in his hands, and shot it back towards the hedgehog. Silver dodged the blast and shot towards…nothing.

"My time can't be wasted on someone as pitiful as you," Nazo echoed through the darkness. "We'll finish this some other time, hm?"

With that, Silver was left alone in the inky blackness of the base.

"RAH!" The hero roared, punching a wall and slumping to the ground.

_This just isn't my day..._

He had to warn Sonic and the others. If they were going after the President, then they'd run into Nazo as well. There was no way they could take him on.

Just then, a loud explosion echoed from a nearby elevator shaft.

* * *

*With Honey the Cat, in Mobiocity*

The cat slinked down a dark alley in the city of Mobius, careful as to not alert any of Eggman's robots or Sonic and his evil friends. She had her pistol that that grey female hedgehog had given her gripped in her left hand, and her goals were to find Mighty then get to a safe place, away from this cesspool of anarchy.

She pinned herself against a wall as three drones flew by overhead, and once they had past, she found a door to a warehouse nearby and walked in. Aside from the massive piles of rubble and its lack of electricity, the whole place seemed like a good hideout.

"Psst!" A voice from behind her hissed, and without thinking, Honey turned around and fired in that direction.

The bullet slammed into some wooden crates, splintering chips into different directions. A hand slowly poked out from behind the crates and waved.

"Friend or foe?" The voice hissed again.

"Depends," Came the cold response.

"You're not trying to destroy the city?"

"No. Are you?"

"I'm just trying to get this prisoner to a jail cell," The voice replied. "Bandit, you check and see if it's safe."

With that, a bound and gagged raccoon was tossed out into the open. She looked like she had been wounded, but was patched up and healthy. In-comprehensive mumbling came from the girl as she tried to spit out some angry words at her capturer.

"Safe?" The voice asked, and then a brown and black wolf emerged from the crates. "You're not gonna shoot me, are you?"

"No…" The cat sighed, lowering the gun.

"Name's Gizmo the Wolf. All around inventor and master of disaster," Gizmo stated walking over and holding out his hand.

Honey shook it and looked around. "Hiding in here as well?"

"Yeah. Don't fancy being shot at and having explosives going off around ya. I'm trying to get that galactic thief over there to a nice prison and then I'm heading back to my friend," The wolf explained. "Looks like you're trying to do the same as me, more or less."

"I'm trying to find an…acquaintance of mine," Honey replied.

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"Boyfriend, huh?" Gizmo asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't lie; I can already detect your heart beat suddenly quicken. Heart beat detection monitor ya know. All sorts of weird and crazy systems that I got."

"Not boyfriend… Just friend," The cat defended.

"Ah. Friendzoned. I'm there now. I feel ya, brah," Gizmo chuckled. "Anyway. Maybe you can help me get across the city to find a prison. Those clones out there ain't got no chill."

"If you help me look for Mighty, then yes, I will help you," Honey replied.

"Wasn't a question, but deal. Let's go."

* * *

*With Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow, ten minutes earlier*

"We're winning this thing! Push forward!" Knuckles ordered, and the soldiers surged against the brigade of droids with a burst of energy.

"Way to take charge, handsome," Rouge said with a wink.

Knuckles smirked and smashed his fists into the torso of a robot and charging towards another group. Shadow picked up another pistol off the ground and stood on top of a robot, firing into the heads of the enemy drones, destroying their memory chips. Rouge continued the fight in the air, leading helicopters and gunships through the fleet of Eggman's robotic creations.

"Echo-two-one-Delta, focus fire on the rocket launchers and gunners in the back. Watch out for the missiles, though," Shadow ordered.

"Copy that," The pilot replied, and the gunships opened fire towards the back of the horde.

"Eggman must have a lot of money and free time on his hands if he can make an army this size," Knuckles seethed, wrestling with a massive drone.

"It's not like he has a date or anything," The bat added in the intercom, soaring through the air.

"Explosives are down. Suggest you all fall back so we can bomb these guys," Another pilot crackled.

"Got it. Thanks, Hotel-five," Shadow replied. "Alright! Order everyone to fall back! They're about to bomb these guys!"

"YOU HEARD HIM! FALL BACK! NOW!" Knuckles roared, and the soldiers began to back up, still maintaining fire on the robot army, keeping it at bay.

Soon, once the heroes and the guards were at a safe distance, the gunships and planes from above unleashed a spectacular bomb run on the droid army. With most of the robots wrecked, the soldiers quickly finished off the remaining enemies and began to celebrate their victory.

"We did it. Can't believe that worked," The echidna sighed.

"How're we gonna get the power back online, though?" Shadow asked, walking up to Knuckles.

"We'll think of something. Nice job out there, boys," Rouge cooed, landing in front of the two heroes.

"Thanks," The hedgehog murmured.

"You weren't bad yourself," Knuckles replied.

"Come on, let's get moving to find a backup generator before these soldiers arrest us again," Shadow stated, and the three ran off again.

* * *

*With Sonic, Tails and Amy, thirty minutes earlier, in the elevator*

"I'LL HANDLE THIS!" Amy shrieked. "Get back!"

Sonic felt a hand move him aside.

"I'm NOT dying before my first kiss!" The pink hedgehog seethed, then sprang up from the floor and slammed into the latch.

Nothing.

Again, she tried this.

This time, the hatch burst open, and Tails grabbed Amy and soared out into the elevator shaft using his two tails. Sonic sprang out last, and hopped along the walls until he could cling to a spot and stay there. After around twenty seconds, which seemed like hours, they heard the elevator crash to the ground, along with shouts in the distance.

"That was too close," Tails sighed.

"You can say that again," Amy replied.

"That wa—"

"Rhetorical question, buddy," The hedgehog cut in. "Come on. Let's prove our innocence."

"I don't think destroying their elevator helped our case much, but alright…" The fox muttered, hovering down towards the bottom while Sonic slid along the walls.

Once the three reached the bottom, the Fastest Thing Alive burst through the damaged elevator doors and walked into the narrow hallway. There, at the end, waited the president with around thirty guards. A large, red door was behind them, and a soldier was trying to force open them due to the power being out. All of the soldiers had their weapons trained on him to a point where his entire torso was lit up with red dots.

"Not. Any. Further. Sonic," The president said in an angry tone.

"Really? We're helping keep off Eggman's drones and you still think we're bad?" The Blue Blur groaned.

Tails and Amy emerged from behind Sonic then, and some red dots hovered over to them as well.

"We've come to prove our innocence!" Amy called.

Sonic snorted and attempted to hold back his laughter at the pink hedgehog's sudden remark.

"There is no innocence to prove. You all are a danger to Mobius and must b—"

The president was cut off when a loud explosion went off behind Sonic and his friends, sending the three heroes flying forward and tumbling to the ground. The guards shouted at each other and trained their weapons on the heroes as well as a grey hedgehog, who walked out from the flames of the broken elevator.

"Quite an entrance ya made there," Sonic groaned, standing up to face the newcomer. "And you are?"

The hedgehog's eyes and hands glowed red and he smiled sinisterly. "You're death."

Then, he rushed the three.

* * *

*With Blizzard, two hours later, in the Frostbite dimension*

The icy cat, who was munching on his fifth frozen corn dog, walked along the outer edge of the fortress. It was a dangerous move on his part, with rebels hiding out in the snow and all, but he had to make an important visit.

_A little further…_

After a few more moments of walking, a makeshift tombstone came into view. As Blizzard came closer, the words "Freeze the Arctic Fox: Beloved friend and partner" came into sight. Blizzard sighed and knelt down before his friend's grave, looking at the stone intensely, and all the while chewing pieces of corn dog.

_Almost three months since you died…_

"How's it going, Freeze?" The hero asked, smiling slightly, but then shook his head. "Mute's right. I'm going crazy. I'm talking to a tombstone!"

_But…_

"It's the only way I feel like I can make contact with you, though," Blizzard countered, turning back to the grave. "I've heard about voices from beyond the grave and such, but if that were true, I feel like that would've already happened to me by now."

_Only you understood…_

"You truly got me. Mute and Jess are the bestest friends I could've asked for, but we were like siblings. You and I, that is. Unstoppable. Now…"

_Alone…_

"Now… When I see Mute and Jess, they look so happy together. They got that warm feeling, not that warm is what I want. Chilly is where it's at. But… They have each other, and they like it like that. I just feel like a third wheel. Aside from those two and the new guy, everyone else here wants to kill me. Well, Steven doesn't. That polar bear couldn't hurt a snowflake."

Blizzard slapped himself across the face a few times.

"I'm confessing my inner personal issues to a tombstone. Ship me off to the crazy house now, please."

As the cat walked off, he turned back once to look at the grave site once more.

_Always waiting… Watching… Blood comrades… Thick and thin… Eternal…_

"I'll see ya around!" Blizzard called, and then walked off to get another corn dog.

He was addicted to those things.

**There it is! Hope this exciting chapter made up for my absence!**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	15. Prison Break (Final Part): Freedom

*With Mute, location: unknown, two hours later*

Mute awoke to his mouth taped over and a burlap sack over his head. A rotten stench filled his nose as he breathed in, and when he moved his hands, he realized that they were bound to a chair, just like his feet.

"Check to see if he's awake now," A voice ordered, and the sack was lifted off his face.

He was staring directly at a person with a frowned mask on.

"He's conscious," The man with the mask replied, removing the sack entirely.

Mute took advantage of this and looked around the room he was in. A few knives and tweezers were on some tables as well as some rags in the corner. He appeared to be in some sort of tent with eight other figures.

"Remove the tape!" A voice in the back called, and the tape was ripped off of his lips.

"I can't talk from my mouth anyway, idiots," The sniper said, his voice detector picking up the vibrations in his throat.

The hero adjusted his jaw and glared at the soldiers in the room. All of them were armed to the teeth and had various masks on; some were plain metal with two eye holes and some were more intricate, bearing the resemblance of a face.

Rebels.

"Mute the Hedgehog, you're a very difficult one to capture," A bird sighed as he walked out from behind a curtain. "Allow me to enlighten you on your situation…"

Mute guessed that this must be the leader of the group: a falcon. Completely white feathers covered his body, and he wore a bullet-proof vest with a sniper rifle strapped to his back, along with some grenades on his waist and a pistol strapped to his thigh.

"You're at our mercy, strapped to this chair, knives on the table, surrounded by people who'd gladly put a bullet in that thick skull of yours," The falcon continued. "This can all be a painless encounter if you tell us everything that happened about your overthrow of the council members and hand over power of the stronghold to us."

"I guess you're the leader of your band of misfits?" The hedgehog croaked.

The bird smirked. "Talon."

The sniper smirked back.

"I'm surprised capturing you was that easy. Didn't think your two friends would let you go, but I guess they're not true friends anyway," Talon exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sure they're on their way," The hero countered.

_At least that was the plan…_

"As anticipated!" The lead rebel cheered, clapping his hands. "While your friends are here rescuing you, an army of mine is marching towards your stronghold! With your little preschool militia out of the way, they'll waltz right in and take it by storm!"

_Okay, so this'll be slightly more challenging than expected._

"Enough dallying, though! Tell us what happened to the council members!" Talon seethed.

"Nope."

"DO IT!"

"Uh uh."

Talon's left eye twitched. "What if I stab you?"

"Go ahead."

"Arrogant little…" Talon muttered, and then pointed at a soldier with a plain steel mask. "You there! Shank him!"

The soldier picked up a surgical knife from a table and walked over to Mute. The rebel raised the knife and swiftly brought it downward, however Mute expected this. Spinning his chair around on one of the legs, he faced backwards as they blade cut through his bonds. The hero kicked the chair away and grabbed ahold of the soldier's arm, breaking it swiftly. Mute turned the soldier around and held him in front as protection; he brought the knife to the soldier's throat and looked around at the enemies who had their weapons drawn.

"This isn't some action movie, Mute! You can't make it out of here alive!" Talon chuckled, holding his pistol in one hand and raising it up. "You have a knife, but we have guns!"

"What you have are bullets and the hope that when your guns are empty, I'll no longer be standing, because if I am, you'll all be dead before you've reloaded," The hero hissed.

Just then, a swift whooshing sound came from above, and a figure crashed through the cloth in the top of the tent, landing beside Mute.

"Blizzard?" The sniper questioned.

The cat stood up and looked around. "Oh good! I haven't missed the shooting yet!"

"Where're the others?" His comrade asked.

"Back at the stronghold preparing for the 'surprise attack' that bird brain here sent," The icy hero snorted, then turned to the rebel leader. "You know, you've really gotta work on being discrete. I'm just sayin'."

"Well, your timing is impeccable as always," Mute sighed, still glaring at the enemies with trained guns.

"Not really. I was waiting for some big dramatic thing to happen so I can make my entrance and shock all. Some big, dramatic, convenient thing always happens in situations like these! I was there for almost twenty minutes!" Blizzard laughed, then sighed and turned a stone expression to the rebels. "So now's the part where my friend and I obliterate you."

* * *

*With Sonic, Tails and Amy, in the Presidential underground bunker, real time*

Sonic ran towards the hedgehog at lightning fast speed; the bottoms of his shoes were starting to peel because of how often he had to do this for the past couple days. As he approached the villain, who was also coming at him, the Blue Blur prepared to dodge to the right to avoid an attack. However, an explosion underneath him sent the hero flying into the air. The figure grabbed Sonic's head, flung it back and slammed him into the ground. The Fastest Thing Alive's neck was on fire; his enemy must've twisted it before he was thrown into the floor. Sonic pushed up off the ground, but a boot to the face sent Sonic soaring backwards. The hero skidded across the floor before standing up. He wobbled a bit as he did and then collapsed to his knees again.

"This just isn't my day…" Sonic muttered.

"Should we open fire, sir?" A soldier in the back asked.

Amy and Tails began to run towards the new hedgehog, who had a smile plastered on his gleaming face.

"Hold you fire," Sonic heard the President order. "I won't go in that bunker until I see the outcome of this. I think we may have had Sonic and his friends wrong."

Amy raised her hammer, about to bring her wrath down upon her opponent, but when she swung it, the villain knocked it out of her hands, caught the weapon and slammed the hammer into Amy's face from the left, right, and finally the top, bringing the girl down.

Quickly ditching the weapon, the hedgehog's fists sparked red as he caught a punch from Tails. The fox's eyes widened as the hedgehog twisted his hand slowly, then swiftly punched Tails' elbow upward, breaking his arm. The young hero cried out in pain before getting his head slammed into a stone wall and falling unconscious.

"Weapon's and heroes alike can't beat Nazo!" The arrogant villain laughed, walking towards the President. "Now, you fat fool, you will succumb to me."

"OPEN FIRE!" The leader of Mobius roared, and the soldiers rained bullets on the evil hedgehog.

Nazo's hands glowed red again as he held them up. The bullets stopped in midair once they neared him, and the hedgehog turned them around and sent them soaring back, right into each soldier's chests at speeds that even a bullet-proof vest wouldn't have done any good.

Nazo laughed as he walked towards the defenseless President.

"You're mine now," The villain chuckled.

Before Nazo could reach the leader of Mobius, Silver smashed through one side of the stone walls, grabbed Nazo, and smashed out the other side.

After blinking a few times in astonishment, the leader of Mobius ran over and checked up on Sonic.

"We need…to get you…outa h…ere…" Sonic wheezed. "Ya know…Somet…imes I hate…this hero…stu…ff…"

At the end of the hall, the fire that had once cloaked the elevator remnants was sucked upward and disappeared. Blaze and Sally dropped down from above and ran towards the heroes.

"What happened?" Blaze asked, looking around at the destruction.

"I was wrong is what happened," The President sighed. "You are the true heroes. Explaining needs to be done, but I believe that you are not who those Darkspine monsters are. Sonic, Tails and Amy here protected me from this Nazo maniac."

"Nazo?" Sally suddenly asked, her expression becoming angered.

"Yes. He was about to get me before a silver hedgehog smashed him through a wall," The leader continued.

"Silver…" Blaze muttered, then used her fire abilities to shoot herself out of the hall and up the elevator shaft.

"Are you alright?" Sally asked, kneeling down next to the Blue Blur.

"Fine…Fine… How's Amy? Tails?" The hero sighed, sitting down.

The queen checked the two briefly.

"Tails is unconscious, but alive. Amy… She's in bad shape." The chipmunk stated.

"We have to get her out of here!" The President exclaimed. "How're we gonna do that?"

Sally and Sonic looked around the room. The elevator was busted, no one could fly, and the President was too big for anyone to carry up the sides of the shaft.

"That is an excellent question, Sir," Sonic replied.

* * *

*With Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge, outside the base*

"We made it out!" Knuckles cheered, fist pumping the air as the three ran away from the crippled base.

"Yes, but how're we gonna meet up with Sonic and the others? It's not like we have earpieces…" Rouge stated.

In the distance, the three could hear the President over the loudspeakers. "All units, I repeat, all units: Sonic and his allies are NOT threats anymore! Disengage! They are no longer targets! The Darkspines are, but the normal heroes are not!"

"Well that's comforting to hear," The bat sighed. "Now all we have to do is beat the Darkspines."

"Yes, but that may be easier said than done," Shadow muttered. "We should head back to Espio's. We might need their help."

* * *

*With Blaze, five minutes earlier*

The cat shot up out of the base and into the sky, looking around for her telekinetic crush. It wasn't until a minute later that she spotted him, standing by himself. She flew over to him and landed by his side.

"What happened? Where's Nazo?" The cat asked.

"Gone…" Silver whispered. "He escaped. Said that we were all gonna die either way, sooner or later."

"Ridiculous. That's NOT going t—"

"Said that if he couldn't kill me, he'd weaken me," The hero continued, turning to face Blaze. "He said that he would kill all of my friends, starting with you. That then and only then would I truly suffer."

Silver swallowed and shook his head.

"I can't allow that to happen. Not to you," The hero sighed.

The President spoke over the intercom: "All units, I repeat, all units: Sonic and his allies are NOT threats anymore! Disengage! They are no longer targets! The Darkspines are, but the normal heroes are not!"

"Well at least the military is off our back," The cat said. "Don't worry, Silver. I'm not going to let anything happen to either of us."

"By the way, can someone get us out of the bunker? We have wounded!" The leader crackled again.

* * *

*With Jess and Shock Charge, two hours later, in the Frostbite Dimension*

Didn't Blizzard say that this army was going to be here in like, twenty minutes?" Jess asked, twirling her combat knife.

"I think…" Shock Charge responded, walking out to join her. "Hey! Guess what I found? Old power lines! They're never used, and they still work!"

The echidna whipped them around before coiling them around his arms and attaching them to his gloves.

"Nice! That'll be cool to watch you use them to fry the enemy!" The hedgehog laughed.

The electric hero's eyes widened slightly. "You're a tad scary sometimes."

"Blizzard says that too. I think you both are just weird," The ex-soldier sighed, and then sat up and looked through a pair of binoculars. "Looks like the cavalry has arrived."

Grabbing the binoculars from the ex-soldier, Shock Charge looked on to see what looked to be the entire rebel army marching towards them.

"Are things ever easy?" The echidna asked.

"If they were, being a hero wouldn't be as fun!" Jess exclaimed with excitement, sitting up. "Let's go, amateur! I'll show ya how it's done!"

**VERY sorry for my month-long absence. I'll try to post quickly like I used to, but with midterms coming up, that'll be hard (balancing two other stories and editing as well).**

**Remember to leave a review! Long chapter this was, eh?**

**More to come…**


	16. The Calm Before the Storm

*With Sonic, Tails, Amy and Sally, in the main sector of the President's base, a half hour later*

"Well I think that went better than expected!" Sonic cheered, walking outside.

The dark, menacing clouds still hung in the air and the oxygen was still caked with dust and ashes, making everyone cough violently as they exited the destroyed base, except for Tails, who was still knocked out and was flung over Sonic's shoulder.

"How's that?" Sally questioned.

"Well, we saved the President and we got the military off our backs!" The blue hero exclaimed. "Now all we have to do is beat the Darkspines, defeat Eggman, stop a giant army of androids and defeat this new and evil hedgehog!"

"And you expect us to be able to do that easily?" Amy asked with a tinge of annoyance.

Sonic blinked a few times and then broke out in a grin.

"Of course you do…" The pink hedgehog sighed.

"Well hello down there!" A male voice echoed from above.

The three looked up to see Blaze and Silver descending towards them. Silver looked battle weary and was covered in dust and bruises and was missing patches of his fur. Blaze, since she didn't participate in the fight much, was perfectly fine.

"Oh look! Beauty and the beast!" The Blue Blur joked.

"Thank you, but please don't call Blaze such harsh words," The telekinetic cracked back, smiling as he received a full-fledged punch to the arm from his feline friend. "What happened to Tails?"

"He got knocked out again," Amy replied. "We need to get him some fighting classes or something."

"Yeah, well…yeah. Has anyone seen Knuckles, Rouge or Shadow?" Sonic asked.

Silver nodded. "I received a transmission from Espio's. They're back there catching a breather and trying to recruit help."

"We should probably head back there as well and regroup. We need to find these clones and finish this once and for all," Blaze added. "These fights are starting to wear us down. We can't keep going like this."

The others nodded and started to head back towards the broken city, billowing smoke and flames.

* * *

*With Mute, thirty minutes earlier, location: unknown*

The two heroes burst out of the tent, chasing after the fleeing Talon.

"Why is it when you say 'freeze' or 'don't move' that everyone runs away?" Blizzard asked. "Why can't we just immediately shoot them in the leg, and that way we can spare all this...WHOO...exhausting running?"

"Don't know," Mute seethed, firing rounds from his pistol at the bird. "What was this stupid plan of yours again?"

The cat scoffed. "It's not stupid. It's INGENIOUS! You get captured on purpose after a fight, then I tail you all the way back to their hidden base, free you and we take down the rebel leader, ending the rebellion in general. It's a great plan!"

"Yeah? Well right now, he's running away from us," The sniper shot.

Blizzard eyed his friend. "I'm sensing a little hostility here."

"Ya think?"

Blizzard took out some reading glasses and put them on, changing his voice to a German accent. "I zink you might need unt therapy zession. Vhat time can I poot you down for?"

Mute reached over and broke the glasses on Blizzard's head, then sped up towards the fleeing bird. He took out a grenade, pulled the pin and aimed.

"Kobe!" He called, and then threw the bomb towards the bird.

It exploded too far ahead, doing nothing to delay the enemy.

"Kobe again!" Mute grunted, tossing another one towards Talon.

This one hit its mark, throwing the bird high into the air and bringing him down on a dumpster near the rebel mess hall. A loud crack sounded, followed by a cry of pain as the bird hit and rolled off the dumpster.

"I think my wing is broken!" The bird whined, feeling his arm with his other gloved claw.

"Nothing else? Too bad," The sniper growled, picking up the bird.

A long scar traveled from the top of Talon's right eye down to about the middle of his beak.

_Some grenade shrapnel must've got him._

"Oh, bro!" Blizzard laughed, jogging up to the two as Mute put handcuffs on the rebel leader. "You got rekt!"

"Shut up, you twit!" The villain barked. "This was your plan all along? Just to get to me?"

"Yup," Mute responded stalely.

"I'm honored that you went through all that just to apprehend me. It won't last, though! After my army is finished destroying your friend at your base, they'll come free me! Hahahahahah—mmph!"

Talon was cut off when Blizzard shoved a snow ball into the bird's mouth.

"Quiet, Polly. You'll get your cracker soon enough," The cat chuckled.

"You're lucky he did that," Mute murmured, leaning in towards Talon. "I was gonna break your other wing if you didn't shut up."

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, in Espio's house, real time*

"We are back!" Sonic called, strutting into the room. "Safe and, well, mostly sound!"

"What happened to Tails?" Espio asked, sitting up from the couch.

"He kissed a wall. Can we get some smelling salts for him, by the way?" The hero replied.

After a few minutes, a solvent was placed in Amy's hand and she waved it in front of the fox's face. Tails spazmed a little and fell on the floo, groaning as he got up.

"Wow! What was that stuff?" He asked, rubbing his head, and then tripped backwards and fell into a chair.

"I call it, 'The Ninja's Sweat Sock and Backwash.'" Espio stated. "I think you can guess the ingredients."

Tails lurched and clapped a hand over his mouth. "That's nasty, Espio."

"No hurling on the rug," Vector said from behind the heroes.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Wait! Everybody hold up! I said hold up! STOP TALKING!" Sonic shouted, holding out his hands.

"Nobody said anything," Knuckles whispered.

"But you did, so shhhh," The Fastest Thing Alive whispered back, receiving a scowl from the echidna. "Tails, you remember Espio?"

"Uhh…yeah?" The fox replied, raising an eyebrow. "So?"

"And what about Amy?" Sonic continued.

"Answer is still yes," Miles answered.

"Rouge?"

"Yep."

"What about Shadow?"

"Hard to forget him."

The heroes all smiled at once, except for Shadow, who nodded his head.

"Looks like his memory is back!" Blaze stated.

"That might mean we have a better shot defeating the Darkspines," Rouge continued. "If things go sour or we need a new strategy, Tails could whip up a new one. The Darkspines are all but finished."

"And Nazo," Sally added.

"Wait, what? What's going on?" Tails asked, looking around at his friends.

"We'll explain later. Right now, we need to rest up and get ready. We're back in business!" Knuckles cheered.

* * *

*With Eggman, ten minutes later, in his base*

"Doctor," A robot began, rolling up to the evil scientist. "The Darkspines are no longer obeying your commands anymore. They seem to have gone…AWOL."

"What?" Eggman growled, leaning forward. "No… Impossible! These can't go rogue! They obey me! I made them to obey me!"

"I'm sorry, Sir. We can't control them any longer. They seem to be following this…Nazo being at the moment."

"Nazo? Who's he?" The doctor asked, squinting his eyes.

"We don't know, Sir. The database has been restricted by the military, so we can't get in. We have no information on this newcomer."

The doctor sat back and looked at a picture of Nazo on a tablet, thinking of his next move.

"What're your orders, Doctor?" The robot asked.

Eggman scratched his mustache and studied the image closer, then grinned slightly. "Send out an order for...capture."

**There it is! Sorry for a chapter with NO ACTION in it, but I'm building it up for the big, two-part final fight in the nest two chapters!**

**Sorry it took so long to get this up. Things have been crazy. If you're still reading this, then you are very committed. Gratz to you!**

**Remember to leave a review!**

**Blizzard: Boy oh boy! I love the snow and the holidays and everything! Snowmen, snowball fights, snow cones, snow… Anywho, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kwanza, Ramadan—you know what? Happy Holidays in general!**

**Very nice, Blizzard, now go repair the fourth wall and stop talking to the readers. That's my job.**

**More to come…**


	17. Killing Clones (Final Battle: Part 1)

*With Sonic, in Mobiocity, twenty minutes later*

"Well, we're here, but I don't see any sign of the Darkspines or this Nazo guy you told us about," Rouge stated, looking at Sonic.

"I'm sure they're here. Both hate us and would love to destroy us, so I'm sure they'll turn up," The Blue Blur replied, looking around at the carnage. "I wonder where everyone went to, considering this place is a corpse of what once was."

"I've received word that some have traveled back to my kingdom and are hiding there. Eggman's drones are focusing on the big cities right now, this one being the biggest, and so they're staying clear of my domain for now," Sally stated, tapping her earpiece. "That evil version of yourself is quite hostile, Sonic."

"Tell me about it," The hero muttered, rubbing his back from where he received a hard knee earlier.

"The first thing I'm doing when I see my clone is putting a bullet through his head," Shadow said.

"I think we all want a little payback," Knuckles added. "I'm just itching for a rematch."

"Then a rematch you'll get!" A gruff voice called out.

The heroes all turned to see the Darkspine echidna walking out from the skeleton of a building.

"I have a horrible prediction of what's gonna happen next," Amy whispered.

"Hey, you weakened has-beens!" The evil Sonic called from a rooftop, looking down on the heroes and grinning devilishly.

"I was right…" The pink hedgehog sighed, lowering her head.

One by one, the clones emerged from all around them, encircling them at the center of the city. Eventually, Nazo showed himself as well and he hovered high in the air, directly above the heroes.

"Told you guys they would find us," The Fastest Thing Alive stated.

"PATHETIC WORMS! YOU HAVE SEALED YOUR DEMISE BY FACING US ONCE MORE!" The villain boomed. "I WILL ENJOY TEARING YOU APART."

"Nazo."

The name was echoed by thousands of Egg-bots as they rose into air, surrounding the heroes and villains in a dome-shaped formation. Leading the armada of droids was Eggman himself, hovering in his personal carrier.

"Oh, there is no way my luck is that bad," Sonic murmured.

"You have become quite a pain in a short amount of time, Nazo," Eggman called. "Turning my creations against me, trying to get to the President before I did—all of these things have thrown a kink in my plans. Not anymore. You're coming with me back to my base for research and roboticizing, whether you like it or not."

"Doctor Eggman, I assume? You think your army of scrap metal will stop me from turning this place back into the wasteland it once was? You are even more stupid than I was led to believe. A poor judgment on your part to face me in my prime," Nazo retorted. "You and your foes below me."

Sonic groaned. "Helloooooooo? Kinda waited for the ultimate showdown here? My legs are falling asleep!"

"Shut up!" Nazo seethed.

"Don't talk to my nemesis like that," The evil doctor ordered. "Only I can talk to him like that!"

"Can we just get on with it?" Knuckles called.

"FINE! Darkspines! Attack…everyone!" Nazo commanded.

"EGGBOTS! ATTACK!" Eggman roared, and the drones rushed forward.

"Finally! CHARGE!" Sonic yelled, and the heroes plunged into the fight for the fate of Mobius.

Sonic raced up the side of a building and leaped off once he neared the top. Spinning through the air, he landed on the rooftop where his dark counterpart was waiting. The two glared at each other before the Darkspine shot towards the blue hedgehog at an immense speed. Sonic swiftly blocked two kicks that were meant for his face before kick flipping his opponent into the air. Darkspine Sonic turned and shot towards the hero from above. Sonic raised his arms to block his assailant, but when the two made contact, the roof underneath Sonic's feet gave way, and the two plummeted into the building's interior. Sonic slammed into the top floor of the building and rolled to a stop near a fire extinguisher. The Darkspine clone got up and looked around before finding his target yet again. Sonic looked up to see the villain rushing towards him like a bullet, but this time the Blue Blur threw the fire extinguisher at the clone, hitting him in the head. The counterpart stumbled forward and crashed through a wall, leaving him freefalling to another building below.

"Stupid knock-off," The hero grunted, getting up and running towards his clone yet again. "You can't beat the classics!"

* * *

*With Silver, Blaze and Rouge*

"These guys are a little tougher than I remember," Silver seethed as he launched a large piece of concrete at his counterpart.

The clone grabbed the debris and threw it back at Silver, who in turn dodged the rock and zipped towards his enemy.

Down below, Blaze was having her own issues landing an attack on her assailant. Every attack she threw was fire oriented, and if there was one thing that her pyrokinetic clone wasn't bothered by, it was flames.

"Nothing I do hurts her!" The cat stated, trying to throw a punch at the Darkspine.

The counterpart caught the punch and twisted her arm, making the cat cry out in pain. Blaze whirled around and socked the villain in the jaw and kicked her backwards.

"We need a new plan of attack!" Rouge called from the rooftops, dodging a kick to the head from her attacker. "They know all the moves we know, and then some!"

"What if we switched off? Fight each other's clones? GAH!" Silver shouted, flying through the air and slamming into a building, shattering the glass.

"That could work. You up for it, Rouge?" Blaze questioned.

"Anything will work at the moment!" The bat replied, knocking the legs out from under her foe.

"Alright. Let me patch through to the others," Blaze said, running into a building and tapping her earpiece. "Guys! Can you hear me? Anyone? Respond!"

"A little busy here—OOH—Blaze! What do—AW—you want?" Knuckles gasped.

"What's going on?" The cat asked, rounding a corner as her counterpart chased after her.

"I'M BEING STUFFED!" The echidna roared. "Get off me, you piece of trash! Let's see how you like a fist to the face!"

"I'm here, Blaze. What's up?" Sonic asked. "Shadow? Amy? Tails?"

"Here," The three replied.

"The Darkspines are overpowering us. They know all of our moves and even some we don't know yet. We're being beaten!" The pyrokinetic explained.

"Ya don't say?" Amy seethed. "Get back! I'll whack you!"

"We need to switch off! Pair up against different clones and take them down that way. Remember, they have trouble blocking any other attacks except ones of their own style!" Silver crackled.

Blaze looked out a window as she was running just in time to see Shadow and his clone crash out of a building window into the streets below. Amy was also in the street, swinging her hammer at her Darkspine assailant. Knuckles was on a construction crane, wrestling with his own opponent.

"You think that'll work?" Tails asked.

"Worth a shot! Shadow, you and I trade off. Blaze and Silver can switch along with Rouge and Knuckles. Amy, you can trade with Tails," Sonic ordered.

"Who put you in charge?" Shadow hissed.

"Just do it!" The Fastest Thing Alive moaned. "Sonic, out!"

* * *

*With Knuckles*

The echidna pushed his clone backwards and lunged towards his foe; however, Darkspine Knuckles expected this and kicked the hero over him. Knuckles tumbled across the crane and rolled off the edge. Grabbing on to the ledge of the machinery with one hand, the hero dangled hundreds of feet above the ground, looking down below at his friends fighting their own battles.

The evil Knuckles stood over the hero and grinned. He raised his foot and brought it down upon the echidna's face, forcing Knuckles to lose his grip and start to fall towards the ground. In the middle of his free fall, Knuckles was suddenly lifted upward in the air and placed back on the crane. Looking behind him, he saw Rouge at his side, glaring at the two clones; Darkspine Rouge mimicked the bat, standing beside the evil version of the echidna with a look of malice on both of their faces.

"I'm sick of these guys," The bat snarled.

"Uh, thanks," The hero muttered.

"Don't mention it," Rouge replied. "You wanna end this?"

"That's all I want at this point," Came the response.

The two raced towards their Darkspines at a furious pace. Rouge flipped over Knuckles and punched the evil echidna hard in his nose. The red hero slid under the bat and sent a swift uppercut to Darkspine Rouge's chin, making the clone stumble backwards. The two kicked their assailants back and began to pummel their foes into the ground, literally speaking. The heroes began beating on the heads and chests of each other's clones until the two counterparts were left broken and beaten.

"Shall we take out the trash?" Rouge asked suavely.

"It's starting to stink up in here," Knuckles added.

With that, the two picked up their clones and threw them off the crane, watching as their foes plummeted into the earth.

"Well, that's that!" The echidna cheered. "Nice work."

"Not too bad yourself," The bat replied, winking at the hero. "Way to protect me."

"Yeah… Just don't get used to it," Knuckles chuckled, lightly punching the bat's shoulder.

The two watched at the scene below them, where Amy and Tails were fighting the Darkspines below. Amy dodged a canon blast to her right and slammed her mallet down upon the evil Tails, practically flattening the fox clone. She then picked him up off the ground, tossed him into the air and smacked him into a building. Once the counterpart smashed through the structure, it crumbled down on top of the Darkspine.

Tails was dodging the chained whip and hammer attacks of the villainous Amy with ease. He soared through the air using his two tails and shot blasts of canon fire down below using his arm canon. Darkspine Amy had trouble dodging these attacks and was soon overwhelmed by the blasts of energy. After a few minutes of bombardment, the clone of Amy Rose moved no more.

"It seems like this plan is working," Rouge stated. "Now we have to worry about Nazo and Eggman's army."

Knuckles turned to see Nazo obliterating the robots with no issue at all, infuriating the doctor, who hovered in his carrier a few buildings away.

"I think we should let them annihilate each other and then take down the last one standing," Knuckles replied, and the bat nodded in agreement.

* * *

*With Gizmo, Honey and Bandit, fifteen miles away, location: ruined Eastern Mobiocity*

"The prison should be around here somewhere…" Gizmo muttered, looking at the holographic mini-map on his wrist.

"Uh, I think it's gone, Gizmo. Look," Honey stated, pointing at a demolished structure.

The place was a wreck. Debris littered the area, bodies of police and people in orange jumpsuits were scattered about and the scent of fire and ash littered the air. In front of the carnage, a sign read: Mobiocity Official Po_ Pri_on. Some of the letters had been blacked out by the ash or had crumbled off the sign.

"Aw dang," The wolf sighed. "All this way for this?"

"Hey, since the place is ruined and all, and I'm not going there, can I at least have these handcuffs removed?" Bandit asked, looking at Gizmo. "My hands are numb."

"So is your brain if you think I'm letting you escape again, bro," The wolf shot. "Dude, I'm not falling for it again. Don't even try. Listen, Honey, thanks for your help and everything. It just didn't work out. I'll just have to bring her back to my city here in Mobius until things get rebuilt."

"No problem, but we made a deal. I help you get here, and you help me find Mighty," Honey responded, looking around. "This place is demolished…"

"Well, let me check the local hero compilation for any status on him…" Gizmo muttered, searching through the archives on his arm pad. "Nothing. Maybe if I check the news over the past couple days, bruh. Hmm. Um…No…That's not it…Getting close, aaaannnndddd…Oh. Um, Honey, bro, I'm sorry to tell you this, but…Mighty was crushed to death in a rockslide caused by these Darkspine things."

After showing the cat the news report, Honey stared off into the distance for a few moments before sliding down to the ground and sobbing. The wolf knelt down next to her and tried to comfort her the best he could, but comforting wasn't really his strongest suit.

After twenty minutes, the genius helped Honey to her feet and looked around. "Well, I better get Bandit back to my home. Ready, prisoner?"

"I'm no longer a prisoner," The thief said blandly, standing up and letting her handcuffs fall off. "I could've escaped while you two were crying it up, but it seems like I wouldn't survive out there without some…backup."

"If you try anything…" The wolf warned.

The raccoon held up her hands. "You'll chase me around again until you catch me. Whatever. I'm not gonna pull anything, and you're gonna have to trust me."

"Pardon me, bruh, if I don't have a ton of trust in you," Gizmo spat. "Honey, you think you'll be good on your own?"

The wolf turned to see that the cat had vanished, leaving the two on their own.

"Well that's great. Onward, I guess," The inventor stated.

* * *

*With Shadow*

The dark hedgehog sent a swift kick to Darkspine Sonic's chest, sending the clone flying across the floor of an office building, slamming into some elevator doors at the end of the room. The counterpart got up, tore the two elevator doors off and chucked them at Shadow, who in turn kicked one out of the way and dodged the other. Pulling out his pistol, the Ultimate Life Form fired several rounds at the evil version of Sonic, but the counterpart sped towards the bullets, ducked under them and landed a punch to Shadow's gut, making the hero grunt in pain. The G.U.N. agent grabbed Darkspine Sonic's arm, smashed his elbow in a direction it wasn't supposed to go, and launched his foe out of the office windows.

"I've wanted to do this to that blue annoyance for so long…" Shadow chuckled, then jumped out of the window, landing on top of Sonic's clone.

The hedgehog dragged Eggman's creation across the gravel and concrete, then lifted him in the air.

"You…can't beat…me…" The clone croaked, trying to wrap its shaking hands around Shadow's throat.

"Watch me," The Ultimate Life Form said, grinning slightly.

Shadow ran up the side of a skyscraper, carrying the clone with him. Leaping off the top and back flipping in the air, Shadow emptied the clip in his pistol into Darkspine Sonic's torso, then slammed his opponent into the ground at an ungodly force. Once the dust cleared, the leader of the Darkspines moved no more. To finish it off, Shadow wadded up some saliva in his mouth and spit it where the clone lay.

"I prefer the original," The dark hero stated, and then walked off to join the others.

* * *

*With Silver, ten minutes earlier*

The telekinetic soared through the air, dodging fireballs thrown by the counterpart of Blaze.

"You'll be easy to beat!" Silver taunted, racing through the air. "How're you doing, Blaze?"

Down below, the pyrokinetic feline was scorching Silver's clone with fury. Each time the Darkspine launched a projectile towards the hero, she either deflected it or dodged it and incinerated him bit by bit.

"Doing well, Silver! I can't see why you had trouble beating this guy! He's easy," Blaze called.

"Easy, huh? I can beat your clone faster than you can beat mine!" The hedgehog replied. "Watch!"

Silver swooped up into the air and took control of the world around him. He felt his mind wrap around cars, large rocks and even small buildings as he lifted them up into the air. He began to whirl them around him, deflecting the blasts of fire his assailant was throwing down below. He opened his eyes, which were now glowing bright blue and lifted all the objects above him.

"I am Silver the Hedgehog, and you will CEASE. TO. EXIST!" The hero roared, and then slammed the projectiles down upon the Darkspine all at once with brute force.

Clearing his head and breathing a sigh of relief, he looked over at his feline friend.

"Beat that!" He laughed.

Blaze grinned and began to whirl around in a circle. Slowly, she began to encase herself in a fiery tornado and was being lifted up into the air. Once she was high in the sky, she broke out of the fiery circle, creating the shape of a phoenix behind her. Shooting fire out of her palms and circling them in the air, she creating a whirlwind of fire above the telekinetic; every attack that he tried to use was deflected by the strong flaming aura that surrounded the cat. Blaze raised her hands up and brought them swiftly down, and the fire above the hedgehog came together in a point and shot down upon the Darkspine. After a minute of this, the flames dispersed and the charred body of the clone was left motionless.

"Show off…" Silver murmured, grinning.

* * *

*With Sonic, five minutes earlier*

"Sonic!" The President crackled in his ear.

"Mr. President? How'd you get this line?" The hedgehog asked, dodging a punch from evil Shadow.

"Please! I'm the president! I have resources! Anyway, I have ordered my military to fight alongside you against Eggman's robots! They'll lessen the amount there! They should be arriving in about fifteen minutes. You think you can hold out that long?" The leader of Mobius asked.

"Sure thing, Mr. President! Thanks for the help," The Blue Blur responded, blocking an attack from his assailant. "I'll tell the others."

"Alright. Good luck," The president replied, and then hung up.

Sonic leaped over the clone of Shadow and slammed his foot into the counterpart's mouth, forcing the villain to stumble backwards. The Fastest Thing Alive knocked the Darkspine's legs out from under him and drove his elbow into his foe's chest, knocking the air out of the evil version of Shadow.

"Hey guys! Listen up! The president has sent the military over to help us fight Eggman's droids. They're on our side, so don't worry about them attacking you, alright?" Sonic explained.

A resounding "got it" swept over the intercom before going silent again.

"It's time to finish you off," The hero stated, looking at the snarling Darkspine.

"You aren't powerful enough to beat me. I'm the—URK!"

Darkspine Shadow was cut off when Sonic grabbed his throat and pinned him to a wall.

"…Ultimate Life Form? Heard that line before," The Blue Blur smirked. "You know what happened to old Shady when he said that? He got beaten. By me."

The clone widened his eyes before being launched across the room. After slamming into the concrete wall at the opposite end, the Darkspine looked around as a whirlwind of blue flew across the area.

Sonic was running throughout the structure of the building, knocking the supporting pillars on each floor off their platforms. One by one, the beams were removed from their place and the building began to implode on itself. Dashing out a shattered window, Sonic rolled to a stop on the streets below and watched as the structure flattened the last remaining Darkspine inside.

Taking a few breaths of relief, the hero stood up and jogged over to his friends.

"That was awesome!"

"Way to go!"

"That was…alright," Shadow muttered. "I could've done better."

"Has anyone seen Sally?" Blaze asked, looking around.

"I heard that," Sally said through the earpieces of the team. "I'm gonna try to bring down Eggman's whole electronic systematic grid. That'll render his base, robot army and all of his tech useless."

"Alright. Just be careful," Sonic replied.

"We're not done yet, guys, unfortunately. Look," Knuckles stated, pointing with his fist towards Nazo.

The villain held Eggman in one hands, hovering in the air. The remaining robots that were under the doctor's control had their blasters and cannons trained on the hedgehog.

* * *

*With Nazo*

"You know, Eggman, you seem to be the primary nuisance of this world. I might to everyone a great service if I just kill you now," Nazo said, looking at the frightened doctor.

"Please, I'll let you control Mobius. We'll rule together! Split it! Fifty-fifty," Eggman said hastily.

The villain lowered his eyebrows.

"Eighty-twenty?" The doctor laughed nervously.

"I'm not going to kill you, but I don't want to see your face in my world ever again. If I do, you will face unimaginable torture and certain death. Do I make myself clear?" The hedgehog seethed. "You will tell your robots to stand down if you want to live."

"ROBOTS! STAND DOWN!" The evil doctor yelled, and the androids obeyed. "See? Done!"

Nazo tossed Eggman in the air and sent and red shockwave towards the villain, launching the screaming doctor through the air and out of sight.

"Pathetic fool…" The evil hedgehog muttered.

"NAZO!"

The villain looked down below at the heroes, who stood in a battle-ready formation.

"How're you pests still alive? I should've known those Darkspines would fail me. No matter! YOU WILL DIE!" The villain roared, shooting down towards the heroes.

**LARGE CHAPTER!**

**Sorry I've been gone so long guys. Been super busy. Hope you guys had a great holiday season and Happy New Year!**

**The second-to-last chapter of the regular story is next.**

**Please leave a review!**

**More to come…**


	18. Still I Rise (Final Battle: Final Part)

*With Blizzard and Mute, in the Frostbite Dimension, twenty minutes earlier*

"You're too late! Your precious stronghold is probably overrun by now and the rebels have total control over this dimension!" Talon spat, sitting in a side car that was attached to Mute's motorcycle, chained and bound by the legs and arms.

Blizzard pointed at the rebel leader and lowered his eyes. "First, you need to shut up. Second, Mute, what're we gonna do with 'Polly want a cracker' when we beat this army?"

"Pretty good chance I'll hand him over to the Freedom Fighters and let them deal with him," The sniper responded, zooming through the tundra with Blizzard flying close behind. "I've heard that King Elias Acorn has a nice and secure jailing area in his kingdom."

"Where is it, pray tell?" The icy cat asked, batting his eyes at his friend.

"Mobius."

"Ah, Mobius. Such a wonderful place! Please tell me we're gonna stop and say hi to Blaze and the others while we're there," The hero sighed, smiling.

"You mean Sonic and the others?" The hedgehog asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah… Those guys too," Blizzard responded, waving off the remark.

"If I actually cared about your love life, I'd ask why you'd like a pyrokinetic so much, considering your abilities, but since we're nearing the stronghold, I'll say forget it and prepare yourself." The assassin stated, cracking his neck and revving up the motor.

Talon rolled his eyes and sank down further in his side car.

* * *

*With Jess and Shock Charge, fifteen minutes earlier*

"Little help here!" Jess crackled as the echidna fought off the soldiers below.

Shock Charge turned to see rebels scaling the fortress walls from both sides of where the female hedgehog was positioned, flanking her and making it hard to keep them off. Shock Charge unraveled the power lines from her arms, leaving them dangling from his palms. He had fused the ends to his gloves when he had found them earlier, making it impossible for them to come off. Shock Charge shot a cable towards a metal pole, wrapped it around the beam and yanked himself upward. Flying through the air, he blasted enemy soldiers with beams of energy as he sailed towards his ally.

"You called?" The orange and black hero asked as he wrapped the power lines around his arms again.

While Jess took one side, filling enemy rebels with lead, one by one, Shock Charge decimated his foes from the other side, electrocuting the soldiers severely once they made it to the top. Once the rebels had stopped coming up the sides of the fortress, Shock Charge wrapped his cables around different parts of the building, launching him upwards. Using electricity to super-charge his jumps and hops, he shot up to the top of the large compound and looked out over the battlefield.

"Oh! Thanks for abandoning me!" Jess complained.

"Keep it calm, will ya? I'm surveying…" Shock Charge replied, scanning the battle ground.

On the other side of the fortress, he spotted another smaller militia heading towards the fortress.

_Clever planning…_

The hero summoned electricity under him and hovered a little in the air. He transferred all of his energy from his torso and legs into his arms and aimed for the armies on both sides of the base. A long beam of blue-ish white energy blew from each of his hands, slamming into the militias at a constant rate, annihilating them and destroying their ranks. He grinned as he moved his hands around, taking out the fleeing rebels that remained after the bombardment.

After a few minutes, no army remained, and the sparking hero slid down the rooftops to the exhausted Jessica below.

"I use up all my ammo and have to resort to fighting with my knife, and you just blast the tar out of these fools in under five minutes?" The hedgehog panted, pulling her combat knife out of a dead rebel. "So not fair!"

"Well, I guess you could say you were… shocked," The echidna stated, a bit of electricity sparking in his palm.

"I get enough jokes from Blizzard. Don't you start," Jess wheezed, wagging a finger at the hero.

After a few minutes of silence, a loud groan was heard from below.

"WE MISSED ALL THE FUN? AW, COME ON!" Blizzard shouted, falling to his knees. "I barely did anything in this ordeal! JESS! SHOCKY! WE GOT THE BAD GUY!"

Jess and Shock Charge looked over the side of the wall at the two heroes.

"Great!" Jess called. "What're we gonna do with him?"

"Take him to King Elias!" Mute said, tossing the bird out of the side car. "Fire up the portal to Mobius! We're going to his palace!"

* * *

*With Nazo, real time, in Mobius*

The heroes slammed into Nazo with amazing force, rocking the earth under their feet. Nazo flew backwards, but regained composure and hovered in the air, watching as the heroes tumbled across the ground below.

_Pathetic fools…_

Nazo shot two beams of red energy at the heroes, forcing them to scatter in different directions. Silver blasted a beam of energy at the villain while Shadow fired shots from his pistol, but Nazo deflected the bullets with a wave of a hand and caught the ball of telekinetic energy, turned it red and sent it flying back into the hero. Silver flew backwards and crashed through a store window, but got up again, slower this time. Tails shot a blast from his miniature cannon, but Nazo kicked that back into the fox, nearly missing Tail's head but instead hitting Amy. Knuckles attempted to land a punch on Nazo, but every effort was met with a block and counter strike, and eventually Knuckles was down in a heap, holding his stomach.

"Knuckles!" Rouge called out, and swooped towards the villain with Blaze and Sonic flanking from either side.

Nazo back flipped in the air and kicked the bat above him while blasting the cat and Blue Blur from all angles. The heroes fell to the cracked and broken pavement below once more and then quickly regrouped.

_Enough playing around. Time to end this._

* * *

*With Sonic and the others*

"He's too strong," Blaze stated.

"Yeah, when we're all attacking him in small groups! That's not working!" Tails added.

"You think if we all attacked at once, we'd have a better shot?" Silver questioned.

"Uh, yeah. That's what we're saying," Sonic replied, looking back at the telekinetic and raising an eyebrow.

"I'll kill you all!" Nazo thundered from above, then pointed at Blaze. "Starting with you."

"Aw, he didn't just say that," The telekinetic hero muttered, and then shot up into the air.

"Silver!" Blaze called out, reaching out for her friend. "Don't!"

"Well, attack… I think!" Sonic sighed, racing forward with his friends.

Silver slammed into Nazo with an ungodly force, knocking the hedgehog back. With fury in his eyes and malice in his heart, the hero tore buildings from their roots and brought them down upon the evil hedgehog. Crushing two cars into his sides, Nazo wobbled in the air as he tried to regain his balance, however when Silver threw down gas pumps from a gas station and ignited the fuel with a blast of energy, the hero's assailant was engulfed in flames and was sent flying into a building, of which Silver then commanded to crumble. Nazo stumbled out of the wreckage after a moment, swaying from side to side.

"Kill… you all…Have to…regain control…" Nazo sputtered.

"Nuh uh, honey!" Sonic teased, and then raced up to the villain, threw him in the air and then jumped after him and slammed him into the ground.

The foe tumbled across the ground and shot some random blasts of energy at Sonic, but missed by a long shot. Tails flew towards the evil hedgehog and bombarded him with cannon fire. Silver lifted him up in the air and threw him into the ground twice before Amy slammed her hammer into Nazo, sending him flying across the battleground through the air and into the foot of Rouge.

"Take that, you ancient fossil!" The bat hissed.

Nazo rolled across the ground and got up, his eyes glowing red. He launched ball after ball of crimson energy at the heroes, who dodged, ducked and rolled to avoid the attack in response. Shadow ran up to the villain and kicked him up into the air, and then ignited a thruster from his shoe right in Nazo's face and fired two shots into the assailant's chest once the Ultimate Life Form landed. Knuckles got on top of the ancient villain and began beating his face before grabbing Nazo's quills, rolling over top of the hedgehog and throwing him into a building. After Nazo smashed through some glass, Blaze sent a blast of fire through the window opening, incinerating the inside.

After a minute of silence, Knuckles burst out laughing.

"We did it! Ha! Against all odds! We won!" The echidna cackled.

Just then, Nazo walked out from the wreckage. Part of him was charred and had fire still on him and he was missing fur in some parts. He had a long gash across his forehead and he walked with a bit of a limp, but other than that, he was fine.

"Maybe not," Knuckles reworded.

"You…heroes… will now die…" Nazo panted, his hands encased in a red glow.

Nazo turned to a large skyscraper and rapidly fired red globes of energy at the base of the building, swooping through the air to get all of the front and sides of it. Explosions rocked the structure and the building lurched forward, falling slowly towards the heroes.

"Get out! GO! GET OUT!" Tails shouted, running away from the crippling skyscraper.

All of the heroes began to run from the falling building, except Blaze, who hadn't moved and was petrified by the now rapidly approaching structure. The three hedgehogs turned to see their friend, paralyzed with fear.

"For the love a—"

"BLAZE!" Silver yelled, cutting off Shadow, and the three sprinted towards the pyrokinetic.

The three stood in front of her and tried to snap her out of it, but it seemed like she was in a trance.

"Burn…charred… destroy…inferno…pyrokinetic rule…" The cat murmured, and kept repeating those lines.

"Blaze, snap out of it!" Silver urged, shaking his friend.

"Silver! Any time now!" Sonic called, turning to see that the crumbling building was almost upon them. "We need to move now or else we're crushed!"

"She won't…budge!" Shadow grunted, trying to push and pick up the fiery hero.

The telekinetic hedgehog lowered his eyebrows and muttered something under his breath. He looked once more at his love before summoning a burst of energy to launch her away from the landing zone of the building. The cat tumbled across the ground and then quickly looked towards the three hedgehogs, suddenly broken from the trance she was in.

"SILVER!" Blaze cried out, reaching for her friend.

"Chaos control!" Sonic called, but nothing happened. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Nothing happened again, and this time the building would be on them in less than five seconds.

"CHAOS CONTROL! ANY TIME NO—"

The massive skyscraper crashed down upon the three heroes, making them disappear beneath the wreckage. Dust and ash swept forward like a wall and blasted into the heroes that were a ways away, making them cough and hit the dirt.

"Sonic!" Tails, Amy and Knuckles cried out.

"Shadow!" Rouge exclaimed, slowly walking forward.

"SILVER! NO!" Blaze choked, slowly getting up and stumbling towards the crash site. "Silver…"

A cackle came from the other side of the fallen building.

"I told you all that you would die! You shouldn't have delayed your fate! Now, I will make your demises very, very painful," Nazo echoed.

The building creaked and moaned as it caved in a little more, causing loud screeches of metal and clouds of smoke to billow up from the carcass. The skyscraper then started to move again, but not downward this time. A bright blue glow emitted from a small crack in the structure, and soon the building was moving up into the air.

The heroes and the villain stepped back in shock and awe as three hedgehogs in their super-form slowly rose into the sky, encased in a telekinetic blue shield, provided by Silver.

"Knuckles… a little help with this thing?" Sonic panted, helping lift the incredibly heavy building into the air with Shadow and Silver on either side of him.

Transforming into his Hyper Knuckles form, the echidna shot up to the heroes and helped them lift the building much quicker now. Once they were high above the ground, the heroes turned the skyscraper towards the evil hedgehog.

"NAZO VICTORIOUS NOW, HUH? GET IT? NOT SO? NAZO?" The Fastest Thing Alive shouted. "WHATEVER! YOU'RE FINISHED!"

The four heroes reared back and launched the skyscraper towards their assailant with everything they had. Nazo shielded himself in a red force field, but that did little when the massive structure came pile driving into him at an amazing speed. After the dust had settled and the villain had been engulfed in the shadow of the skyscraper, the heroes switched back to their normal forms and dropped down to their friends, who awaited below.

* * *

*With Blizzard and the others, in the Frostbite Dimension*

"Alright, so the area where King Elias lives does not have good teleportation signal, and the closest area is in Mobiocity. Now, from what I can tell, the ruckus has basically stopped, so you should have no issues getting through there," Jess stated, firing up the teleporter. "Let me know when you guys get to Elias's kingdom and if the mission was a success."

"Sounds good! Let's do it," Blizzard cheered, picking up Talon, who was now only in handcuffs and walking towards the open portal.

* * *

*With Nazo, one minute earlier*

The hedgehog groaned as he slowly got up. He was sure that his right arm was broken, and using his other one to touch has left eye, he knew that he was blind in that area. Battered, bruised and broken, the villain slowly climbed over, crept under and side-stepped his way through different gaps and openings in the building until he forced his way through a crevice and out into the open, on the opposite side of Sonic and the others. However, when he got out there, he was faced with the army of Mobius, and all of the soldiers, tanks and helicopters had their weapons trained on him.

_I am in no position to fight this army…_

Nazo looked around and spotted some sort of rift or portal that had just opened on the top of a building.

_If I can get there, I'm free._

The villain hurtled himself into the air and landed about halfway on the building. Rapidly climbing to the roof, he was able to make it on the top of the structure and through the portal before the soldiers had any idea of what happened.

* * *

*With Blizzard*

Just as the icy hero was about to step through the portal, a hedgehog flew through the opening and slammed into the heroes, knocking them to the ground. Talon tumbled across the floor and quickly got up. Looking at the downed heroes, he took off into the snow storm that was going on outside, disappearing into the tundra.

"I got him!" Mute grunted, drawing his pistol and running after the rebel leader.

"You in a rush, bro? What happened? Who are you?" Blizzard asked, rolling out from under the newcomer.

The hedgehog quickly got up and his hands turned red as he pointed his palms at the heroes. "Friend or foe?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Friend! Totally friend!" Shock Charge exclaimed, putting his hands in the air. "We mean you no harm. Welcome to the, uh, Frostbite Dimension is it? Yeah. Frostbite Dimension."

The hedgehog lowered his palms and the red light faded. "My name is Nazo. I've been badly injured and need medical attention immediately. I've encountered a being named Sonic the Hedgehog and—"

"Sonic? Well, any friend of Sonic is a friend of mine!" Blizzard stated cheerfully, holding out his hand. "Name's Blizzard the Cat. No relation to any Blaze the Cat, if you met her too."

"You're…friends with Sonic?" Nazo seethed, his right eye twitching.

"Oh yeah. We're good buddies. You okay? You got something in your eye?" The cat replied.

* * *

*Fifteen minutes later, with Mute*

The hedgehog jogged back in the direction where his friends were when he smelled something funny in the air.

"Hey guys! Couldn't find Talon. He's gone and…" Mute began to say, and then trailed off when he saw the entire fortress that he and his friends worked so hard to protect, on fire and caving in.

Blizzard, Jess and Shock Charge stood a few feet away from him; Blizzard had his arms crossed and was shaking his head slowly, Shock Charge had his hands at his sides with his mouth open and Jess was on the ground with her head in her hands.

"You think it was something I said?" Blizzard asked out loud.

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, in Mobiocity, twenty minutes earlier*

"So… That was exciting wasn't it?" Sonic asked, as he walked up to his friends with Shadow, Silver and Knuckles behind him.

"I was so worried! I thought you were dead!" Amy cried tackling the Blue Blur to the ground and hugging him.

"Don't do that again, Shadow! You could've been killed," Rouge hissed, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, I wasn't. You can stop worrying. It'll take more than a little building to bring me down," The Ultimate Life Form muttered, wiping the dust and gravel out of his quills and hair.

"What happened, Blaze?" Silver asked, walking up to his friend. "It was like you were under a spell. You were saying something about fire and a pyrokinetic rule."

Blaze shook her head. "I just saw flashes of fire and destruction. People around me kept chanting 'long live the new ruler' and 'the year of the pyrokinetic.' It was so weird."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm glad you're alright," The telekinetic responded, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Hope that never happens again. Ya know, I was gonna ask this at some point, but I mean with all that has gone on, I guess I should ask now…"

"I smell a cliché coming on," Sonic stated, popping up between the two, grinning.

Pushing the Fastest Thing Alive out of the way, Blaze smirked at her friend. "I think I know what it might be."

"You do?" Silver asked, his face becoming red.

The cat nodded. "I heard you talking to me when I was unconscious, back at Espio's place. Nice things to say, but odd if you say it to a friend. Especially of a female caliber…"

"Well I mean it's just that I con't want anything bad happening to you like with Iblis and I just feel at ease whenever I'm around you but at the same time nervous and my chest aches and I get a bit sweaty under the pits and your very cool to be around..." The telekinetic babbled. "...And it's not what you think it is unless you want it to be that way then I'm all for it because your very pretty and I don't wanna ever be apart from you and..."

"Silver! Just ask. You might be surprised..." The cat whispered.

Silver nervously grinned. "I hope in a good way. Anyways… Wanna date?"

Blaze smiled and sighed. "A naïve way to ask out, Silver, but that's what makes you so likeable. I'd love to."

The two hugged each other while Sonic slowly came up between them again, smiling widely.

"I so called it," The blue hero whispered, looking at the two.

**So there it is! The final chapter is next and then the sneak previews for the next story will follow that chapter. Two chapters left in the story, I guess.**

**Sorry I've been gone for a while. I hope this made up for it.**

**For all the Silver x Blaze people out there, hope you guys are happy now. Yippee skippy!**

**Remember to leave a review. PLEASE! I LOVE HEARING FROM THE READERS.**

**More to come…**


	19. The Light Shines On

**Welcome, to the second to last chapter in the story! I hope you guys have enjoyed this one. Personally, I didn't feel like this one was as good as the previous one, but I insist that out of the series, this one will probably be my least favorite (although I still like it). Whatever, though. Everyone has their own opinion of whether this story was better than the first, etc. and etc.**

**Also, a new poll is up on my author wall! Be sure to vote on it! I wanna get feedback on this so I know what to do with villains that have survived (Nazo, *Those yet to come*).**

**Aaaaaanyway, here's the new chapter. Hope you guys like it. BE SURE TO STICK AROUND AND CHECK BACK TO SEE THE NEW STORY SNEAK PEEKS.**

*With Sally*

"Guys? Are you all okay?" The queen asked, typing frantically into her computer.

"We're fine, Sal. Just defeated the bad guys and saved the world…again," Sonic crackled. "Eggman's bots are down in the city. Well…most of them anyway. How's the override coming?"

The queen sighed. "It's a little slower than what I expected. I had to reboot all of NICOLE's systems and hardware. It looks like something obliterated her mainframe earlier when I was gone with Jet. I'm about to bring her back online though, so just sit tight. All of Eggman's systems are about to be crippled…"

After a few minutes of frantic typing, Sally typed in a few pass codes and commands, bringing the holo-lynx back up once more.

"My Queen, what happened to me?" NICOLE asked.

"You were severely damaged earlier. Someone destroyed your systems," The chipmunk stated.

"Ah, yes. I remember. After helping a wolf, who gave me new emotions for my hardware, I was attacked by someone who called himself Nazo," The computer recalled. "Is he dead? Defeated?"

Sally nodded. "As far as I know, and from what Sonic told me, the Darkspine clones are as well. Listen, I need a favor."

"I serve the queen. You don't have to ask favors from me, Sally," NICOLE said, smiling. "What can I do?"

"I need you to bring down the rest of Eggman's robots and drones throughout Mobius. That'll end this whole thing once and for all. Make sure to completely and permanently terminate his systems in his base, once you've located it," Sally explained.

"All over Mobius? That's a big request. I'll do it, but it may take a few minutes. In the meantime, I'll run a separate system scan to track down the doctor's hidden base and kill the power to that, wiping his systems," The holo-lynx responded, turning to the computer before her and pressing a few buttons.

Minute after painstaking minute passed before NICOLE spoke again.

"Observe, Your Highness," The computer stated, motioning to a large screen with her hand.

Sally walked over to the screen and watched as several images appeared before her, all in different parts of Mobius, but all showing the same thing: robot after robot from Eggman's army was falling from the skies with lifeless eyes.

"These were captured from undamaged security cameras throughout our dimension," The lynx spoke again. "Robotnik's army is finished."

"Excellent work, NICOLE," The chipmunk praised, sucking in a breath of air and blowing it out. "Hey, Sonic? Sonic!"

"Yeah? What is it?" The Blue Blur asked through the intercom.

"All of Eggman's army is down. The robots are finished," Sally reported. "We're working on shutting down his base now. From there, we'll give you the coordinates to take him in for jailing."

"Sounds good, Sal. Thanks. We did alright these past couple days. Didn't get much sleep, but we sure pulled through," The Fastest Thing Alive replied.

"Once this is over, I'd like to personally invite all of you to what's left on my palace for a small feast, if that's alright," The queen continued. "That's a royal order."

"Well, who am I to deny a royal order then?" The hero chuckled. "We'll be there. Just tell us when. See ya."

Ten minutes later, the two were able to track down Eggman's base location.

NICOLE looked at Sally with a slight smile and raised an eyebrow, and received a nod in reply.

"Do it," The chipmunk ordered.

* * *

*With Eggman, five minutes earlier*

"D-D-Doctor Eggman?" A robot jittered, shaking slightly.

"You better have good news for me, Forty-Two A-Zero-B…" Eggman growled, turning his head slightly.

"Actually…" The droid hesitated. "The Darkspines have been eliminated by Sonic and the others, Nazo has been killed and our entire robot army is down…"

Eggman rubbed his moustache slightly before picking up a crowbar that was lying in a scrap pile.

"You can forget about oil changes for the next three decades, Forty-Two A-Zero-B. Leave me. I have business to attend to," The evil scientist ordered.

The robot sunk its head and rolled off to its quarters, leaving Eggman alone. The doctor walked past the area where Shock Charge was once held and quickly glanced at it before lowering his eyes and continuing to the back room. Opening the door, he walked in to see his two latest creations, T0X1C and The Plague. Gripping the crowbar tighter, he shattered the glass that contained the two beasts in their tranquil state, making them tumble out of their containers and on to the floor, water spilling out everywhere.

"Get up…" The doctor hissed, and the two lumbered up from the ground to face him. "I don't care about world domination anymore. I want Sonic and his friends dead. You hear me? I want a souvenir from each of them after they are killed… SO I CAN FRAME THEM IN MY BEDROOM!"

The two creations lowered their empty eyes, but remained silent.

"I'm tired of their meddling in my plans. For too long, I've been the loser in this game. Not anymore. No more Mr. Nice Doctor! I'M—"

The evil scientist cut short when everything around him went dark, and the base went silent.

"Did the base just go dark?" The doctor asked, and a short grunt from one of the two monsters gave the answer of 'yes.' "Well, poop. Looks like we'll have to reboot the systems."

"No systems. Power in base… terminated. Systems…wiped," The Plague stated in a gruff, caveman-like voice.

"How do you know this?" Eggman asked.

Another grunt echoed.

"Fine. It looks like we'll have to relocate. Surely Sonic and his friends are coming for me now. We'll see if you are up to the task when the time comes. Follow me, my creations," The villain ordered, walking out of the room with his new monsters behind him. "I am far from beaten."

* * *

*With Sonic and the others, one week later, in Mobiocity's center*

Lots of citizens from Mobius had gathered to see the President give his speech over the events that had happened. Once power had been restored, news reporters and other channels immediately began praising Sonic and the others for their actions, although they had previously condemned them. All over Mobius, people tuned in to see the leader of the dimension give his motivational speech. It was about to begin.

"So we lost Eggman again, huh?" Knuckles muttered, standing next to Sonic.

"Yeah. It's not like he can hide forever, though. He's all but beaten. No robots, no creations, no power; nothing! We'll get him eventually," The blue hero replied.

A sharp shush from Blaze silenced the two as the President began to speak.

"People of Mobius!" The leader boomed. "We…"

The whole area grew deathly quiet, waiting for him to continue.

"We are alive today, because of many great heroes! Of course Sonic and his team were essential to this victory. Without them, we would not be alive today! However, all over Mobius, heroes rose to defend their home. Even a villain or two had a change of heart! They fought, and even died to save this dimension!"

_Mighty…_

_Jet…_

_Big…_

_Mina…_

_Storm..._

_Wave..._

"But their sacrifice was not in vain! Because of them, we are alive! We have lost friends, family members, and colleagues in these past horrid days; yes we have. However, we are survivors! The spirit of Mobius has never and WILL never go extinct! Because of our valiant heroes and soldiers, our light shines on. Because of perseverance and gumption, our light shines on! Even in our darkest hour, we managed to stumble and crawl through the blackness and despair…"

Sonic gripped his head at the word 'blackness,' recalling his dream that he had when he was unconscious at Espio's. He remembered how the darkness swallowed him whole.

"You alright?" Silver whispered.

Sonic nodded, and shook it off.

"…again we rise from the rubble. Even when flames of destruction and ashes of hate filled the air we breathe and the sky we admire…"

Blaze blinked a few times and clenched her fists, recalling her vision she had when she was in a trance, just a week ago.

"Our buildings and culture may have been destroyed, but our freedom; our liberty; our livelihood was NEVER DIMINISHED!" The President shouted, and a loud roar of approval erupted from the crowd. "And I end this little speech with a word of encouragement, my friends. Even in the worst of times, and even when we've hit rock bottom, our heroes and our soldiers will protect us to the ends of the earth! They will make sure that OUR LIGHT SHINES ON!"

A loud cheer exploded from the crowd below as the President was escorted off the podium. Walking through the broken streets and buildings, he made his way to Sonic and the others and shook their hands. Walking towards the Chaos Detectives, he thanked them for their service as well before getting into his car and driving off.

The heroes looked around at the broken city and sighed.

"We did alright," Rouge stated.

Shadow and Knuckles nodded in agreement.

"I'm just glad that we're all safe. I'd hate to lose any of you guys!" Amy exclaimed.

"I second that," Tails added.

"I'm thankful that no matter what, we stuck by each other," Blaze sighed, clasping Silver's hand. "Through thick and thin."

"What about you, Sonic? What're you grateful for?" Silver asked, and the whole group turned to face him.

After a pause, the Fastest Thing Alive gave his answer.

"I'm thankful that I don't have to clean this whole city up," The blue hedgehog laughed.

* * *

*With two cats, on top of a demolished building*

Two pyrokinetics jogged up to a pile of debris, overlooking the area of people below. Ducking down behind the rubble, one feline pulled out a pair of binoculars and scoped out the crowd.

"See anything?" His partner asked.

"Not yet… Gimme a sec…" The cat mumbled, and then smirked. "Got her. After all this tracking, we've positioned her here."

The other pyrokinetic yanked the binoculars away from his partner and zoomed in on the hero. "Oh yeah. That's her. Should we report this to King Inferno? I'm sure he'd love to hear the news."

The other cat nodded his head, and the two opened a portal using a small disk, just like in the Frostbite Dimension, and hopped through.

* * *

*With Gizmo and Bandit, two days later*

"Judging by your long list of felonies, Bandit the Raccoon, I can tell you that you're going away for the rest of your life. Maybe even a life after that. I'm sorry, but these crimes are just too extensive to give you any shortened sentence without bail," A judge stated.

The two sat in a court room in an excluded part of Mobius. This small town was not attacked, thankfully, since it was hard to find and was basically off the grid.

"Is there anything I can do to avoid jail time?" The thief asked.

"Well, the only way to avoid jail is to join a hero's team and fight alongside them. It's a new law we're trying out. It's called the Heroic Correctional Actions Law. I came up with that name myself!" The judge stated, sitting up proudly. "I think that you could learn a thing or two from joining a team. Might I recommend this wolf's team? Hm? Gizmo was it?"

"Plot twist. Didn't see that coming," The inventor sighed. "Can't she join another team, dude? Kinda awkward joining a team that has tried to hunt ya down for so long, right?"

"I'm sorry, but there is no one better for her to join than you," The old man said firmly. "I'm not about to annoy the President with having to ship this crook across the dimension in order to join some other team. She'll have to make due with you."

Gizmo threw back his head and sighed loudly. "BRUH. Not cool!"

"I'll take the hero correction whatever," Bandit said, waving her head. "I'm not fit for jail."

"Done!" The judge cheered, slamming down his gavel.

* * *

*With Scourge and Fiona, one week later, in Moebius*

The two stepped back through the portal and into Scourge's room once more.

"Good to be back," Fiona stated, waving her arms around. "Surprising that Sonic and his friends are still alive."

"Whatever. As long as we get paid to help this Inferno guy, I don't care what we do," The green villain seethed.

"Wonder what he wanted Catharsis for. Why would he need a telekinetic anyway?" The fox asked, flopping down on her boyfriend's bed.

"Beats me. Scoot over, babe. I wanna watch TV," Scourge said, grinning devilishly. "All I know is that we get to tear apart Sonic and his friends apart, and that's good enough for me."

**There it is! That's the chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed. The sneak peeks for the next story are coming up!**

**PLEASE!**** Let me know what you thought of this story! I will be going back to make some edits!**

**Note: Christian Ape99, I will only use one of your OCs in the next story (hope that's alright. I'm trying to make this next story have almost no OCs. Lucky break for you, right?) Since I do not have any info on their personalities, past, etc. I will be winging it, unless you leave info about both in the reviews. I'll include the OC in one situation (big or small. Haven't decided), but I will mention their names once or twice more after that. Hope that's satisfactory.**

**More to come…**


	20. Story Sequel Sneak Peeks

**Welcome! Here are the sneak peeks for the next story! Hope you guys enjoy!**

Sonic was thrown across the field and slammed into a tree, cracking the base and collapsing the large pine on top of him. The hedgehog groaned as he tried to roll the trunk off of him, but it was too heavy. His torso felt like it was on fire.

"Where's…that…backup, guys?" The hero seethed, squirming underneath the weight of the tree.

"SONIC! Help me!" Amy cried out, kicking and wriggling in the hands of Toxic.

Sonic held out a shaky hand at the pink hedgehog before he saw Toxic drip a few drops of green ooze from his fingertips down the hero's throat before slamming her into the ground. The hedgehog moved no more.

Sonic coughed and sputtered as the world around slowly began to go dark. The last thing her saw before he blacked out was The Plague, walking towards him and smiling devilishly.

"Souvenir…for…Eggman…" The rocky monster chuckled sharply.

* * *

"I've analyzed the poison inside of her," Tails said, removing his goggles and white coat. "It looks like a highly deadly, fast-acting serum that was man-made. This toxin has never been made before, so there's no cure. We have to get these ingredients from scratch."

"Tell me they're all in Mobius," The Blue Blur pleaded.

The fox shook his head. "We need eight ingredients for the antidote. Only two are here in Mobius. While you go search for those two, I'll locate the other things we need. I'll have Knuckles go with you. He's the only one not on leave at the moment."

* * *

"Alright, so what do I have to do to get this plant thing?" Sonic asked, standing impatiently before the large gorilla.

"Throngmenson plant, and you have to make it to the top of this mountain," Spencer stated, motioning to an extremely large mountain in the distance. "Once there, you will have to battle your enemy from within. Only then will the location of the plant be revealed to you."

"Can't you just tell me where I can get it?" The hero asked, tapping his foot with his arms crossed.

"It changes location every time someone asks, alright?" The gorilla snapped. "I won't be able to help you, but I suggest you hurry. Your enemies are coming closer by the second, and once here, I'll vanish and leave you stranded here."

"Perfect…" Sonic muttered.

* * *

"Sonic! By my calculations! Amy only has twenty minutes to live! You have to hurry and get those ingredients back here!" Tails echoed through the intercom as Sonic dodged an attack from The Plague.

"I got this," Knuckles called, fending off Toxic.

"You think you can handle both?" The hero asked.

"No, but I can stall them, and that's what you need to get that antidote together. I'll be fine! Just get going!" The echidna grunted, slamming his fist into Toxic face, only to see it reform with more green slime. "Dang, you're ugly!"

* * *

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't tried to be the hero," Shadow growled, getting up in Sonic's face. "If you hadn't acted like an invincible hero with no regard for others, none of this would've happened!"

"Back off, Shadow!" The echidna ordered, pulling the Ultimate Life Form away from the Blue Blur.

"Don't give me orders!" The dark hero seethed, drawing his pistol and pointing it at the Guardian of the Master Emerald.

"Knuckles, just leave him alone," Rouge cautioned.

"Shadow's the one acting up. Tell him to stand down," Silver shot, looking at the bat.

"You think I'm gonna stand by and watch my friend get teamed up on, you're DEAD wrong!" Rouge hissed, making Blaze stand between the two with flaming fists. "What're you gonna do, huh? Burn my arm to protect your defenseless boyfriend?"

"I just might…" The pyrokinetic whispered, lowering her eyebrows.

"Please! Everyone! Calm down!" Tails urged stepping forward. "Sonic? A little help?"

But the Fastest Thing Alive didn't respond. In fact, he just sat down on the ground and stared off into the distance, wishing for a chance to redo what had happened.

* * *

"Sonic! Please! Put me down!" Eggman pleaded, looking helplessly at the hero before him.

Dark Sonic held the evil doctor over the edge of a large cliff and bore his white eyes into Robotnik. The good part of him was urging him not to throw the doctor over the edge. That was not the right thing to do and that's not what he normally would do. But this situation isn't normal. Nothing is normal anymore. The darkness in him that he had kept away for so long was unleashed when this whole adventure occurred. It had only arisen to take over now.

"I-I-I won't do any evil deeds again! Please," Eggman blubbered.

"Lies…" Dark Sonic muttered.

"Yeah. That was a lie, but I won't try to take over Mobius or harm your friends anymore! I'll…rob banks and stuff!" The doctor rapidly droned, smiling. "Just let me go!"

The black hedgehog smiled. "Very poor choice of words."

* * *

The world of Mobius began to collapse on itself. Buildings that once stood tall started to crumble down to the ground and were sucked into the swirling black vortex at the center of the dimension.

Shadow, who sat on a hill and watched as the chaos and destruction unfolded before him, lifted up his hands and frowned as they slowly began to disintegrate into dust. As more and more of his arms were wiped away as ash and tiny particles, the Ultimate Life Form shook his head.

_So this is it, Sonic? This is how far you'd go to save her? I'm surprised. Quite surprised…_

* * *

**Sonic Legends 3: Dying Rose**

* * *

**Hope these teasers look good for you guys! I personally believe that this story will beat out the previous two, not in laughs, but excitement and suspense!**

**There's a poll on my page on here that I urge you guys to vote on! I need your votes on this matter so I can decide what to do with Nazo and a few other upcoming villains! Please vote!**

**Leave a review of what you think of these tid-bits!**

**More to come…**


	21. Story Sequel Out Now!

**Hey all! Just in case you didn't get the memo or anything, the new story is out now! It's called ****Sonic Legends 3: Dying Rose**

**It'll be the final installment in the series before the finale!**


	22. AN: Third Story Has Been Released!

**For anyone who didn't know, the new story for the Sonic Legends series has been out for some time now! Be sure to check it out! ****Sonic Legends 3: Dying Rose**

**Also, be sure to check out the first story: ****Sonic Legends: Fire and Ice**


End file.
